Devadasi

Devadasi (in Sanskrit "servant of god") is a religious practice still found in some Hindu communities, especially in southern India, whereby at young girls are "married" to a deity or a temple. Devadasi proper should not be confused with rajadasis and other types of dancers. The institution of devadasi-like professions are also known by various other local terms. Several examples drawn from different regions and languages are: Andhra Pradesh: dogams and sanis Goa and Western India: bhavins ...

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Devadasi - History

Devadasi - Devadasi practices

Devadasi - Additional information

Devadasi - Statistical data

Read more here: » Devadasi: Encyclopedia - Devadasi

Devadasi: Encyclopedia II - Devadasi - Devadasi practices The devadasi practices have considerably changed over the last centuries. The account of the contemporary Devadasi practice in Tamilnadu by Amrit Srinivasan is interesting: "Traditionally the young devadasi underwent a ceremony of dedication to the deity of the local temple which resembled in its ritual structure the upper caste Tamil marriage ceremony. Following this ceremony, she was set apart from her non-dedicated sisters in that she was not permitted to marry and her celibate or unmarried status was legal in customary terms. Significant ...

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Bharatanatyam - Other elements

Bharatanatyam - Dancers

Devadasi: Encyclopedia - Nautch

Nautch, a word used in several languages of North India, is an Indian term for “dance”, and indicates several forms of popular dancing styles by young girls, generally called the Nautch girls. The culture of the performing art of Nautch rose to prominence during the later period of Mughal Empire, and the Company Rule. Over a period of time, the Nautch traveled outside the confines of the Imperial courts of the Mughals, the palaces of the Nawabs and the Princely states, and the higher echelons of the officials of the British Raj, to the places of re ...

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Nautch - Etymology

Read more here: » Nautch: Encyclopedia - Nautch

Devadasi: Encyclopedia - Tantra

Tantra (Sanskrit: loom), tantric yoga or tantrism is any of several esoteric traditions rooted in the religions of India. It exists in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, Bönpo, and New Age forms. Tantra's roots are in the village life of ancient India. The word "tantra" first appears in the written record in the middle of the first millennium CE. Tantra has persisted and often thrived throughout Asian history. Its practitioners have lived in India, China, Japan, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Korea, Cambodia, Burma, Ind ...

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Read more here: » Tantra: Encyclopedia - Tantra

Devadasi: Encyclopedia - Aurangzeb

Abu Muzaffar Muhiuddin Muhammad Aurangzeb Alamgir (Persian: ابو مظفر محی الدین محمد اورنگزیب عالمگیر) (November 3, 1618 – March 3, 1707), usually known as Aurangzeb, but also sometimes as Alamgir I, was the ruler of the Mughal Empire from 1658 until 1707. He was and is a very controversial figure in Indian history. Unlike his predecessors, Aurangzeb led a remarkably austere and pious life. Strict adherence to Islam and Sharia (Islamic law)—as he interpreted them—were ...

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Aurangzeb - Rise to throne

Aurangzeb - Aurangzeb's Reign

Aurangzeb - Impact of Aurangzeb's reign

Devadasi: Encyclopedia - Yoga

Yoga is a family of ancient spiritual practices that originated in India, where it remains a vibrant living tradition and is seen as a means to enlightenment. Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, and Raja Yoga are considered the four main yogas, but there are many other types. In the West, yoga has become associated with the asanas (postures) of Hatha Yoga, which are popular as fitness exercises. Yoga as a means to enlightenment is central to Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and has influenced other religious and spiritual pr ...

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Devadasi: Sanskrit Hinduism Dictionary on Devadas, devadasis

Devadas, devadasis:

"Servants of the gods". temple prostitutes.

Devadasi: Encyclopedia II - Bharatanatyam - Medieval decline

Local kings often invited temple dancers devadasis to dance in their courts, the occurrence of which created a new category of dancers, rajadasi's and modified the technique and themes of the recitals. A devadasi had to satisfy her own soul while she danced unwatched and offered herself (surrendered) to the lord, but the rajadasi's dance was meant to be an entertainment. Most devadasis had already gone from being high-status life-long celibate priestesses (brahmacharya) to being lower-status temple servants who we ...

Before the nuns, who in Christendom were consecrated to the Virgin Mary, there were the Vestal Virgins of Rome, the maidens of Isis in Egypt, and the Devadasis of the Hindu temples, who originally "lived in great chastity, and were objects of the most extraordinary veneration" (IU 2:210). "They were the 'virgin brides' of their respective (Solar) gods. Says Herodotus, 'The brides of Ammon are excluded from all intercourse with men,' they are 'the brides of Heaven'; and virtually they became dead to the world, just as they are now. In Peru they were 'Pure Virgins of the Sun,' and the Pallakists [Pallakides]

of Ammon-Ra are referred to in some inscriptions as the 'divine spouses' " (TG 234).

(See also: Nuns, Mysticism, Mysticism Dictionary)

Devadasi: Spiritual - Theosophy Dictionary on Vestal Virgins

Vestal Virgins The priestess-guardians of the sacred fire of the Roman State; originally four in number, later six, then seven. Their special duty was to keep burning the sacred fire, which must never be allowed to go out. Once a year, however, it was extinguished with appropriate ceremonies, and then rekindled by means of "pure" or elemental fire -- fire produced by friction or by means of a burning-glass.

The Vestals were chosen when mere children, their election being the king's prerogative; under the Empire and Republic, that of the pontifex maximus. The one selected took a vow of chastity for thirty years, after which she was free to return to the world and marry if she chose. So highly regarded was this honor that few availed themselves of this privilege, and despite the requirements there were always more candidates for the position than could be accepted. A violation of her vows subjected the Vestal to extreme penalties.

Vestals enjoyed special privileges in the State, and in most respects were not subject to the Roman law. On state occasions they were preceded by a lictor and at public spectacles the best seats were reserved for them. In all the greater ceremonies and state festivals they took a prominent part. They had undisputed power to pardon any criminal whom they might meet when on his way to execution, providing the meeting was not prearranged. They could be buried within the walls, a privilege they shared with the Roman Emperor alone. Public slaves were appointed to serve them; they were the custodians of important state papers. They lived in almost royal splendor in the magnificent Atrium Vestae which adjoined the official fanum of the pontifex maximus himself. Their chief festival was the Vestalia, held on June 9th. From the central fire which they tended, the altars of other gods obtained their fires, and even distant colonies were not held to be consecrated until their own altar fires were lighted with fire from the central hearth. Compared with this cult in other parts of the world, especially in India where originally there was a lofty worship requiring the completest chastity and renunciation of the devadasis or nachnis of the temples, the cult in Rome, despite worldliness, seems to have suffered less degeneration than might have been expected from the theoretical and actual power surrounding it.

Devadasi: Encyclopedia II - Bharatanatyam - Modern rebirth

Rukmini Devi Arundale raised Bharatanatyam to a puritan art form, divorced from its recently controversial past by "removing objectionable elements" (mostly, the Sringar, or the expressive Tantric elements) from some original styles of Sadir (such as Pandanallur, Tanjore or Thanjavur, Vazhuvoor, Mysore etc.), according to Shri Sankara Menon. A top contemporary dancer Alarmel Valli said, ``Though Chokkalingam Pillai often told us not to dance like a jadam (zombie), I suspect that the masters had to shed much of the full blooded quality of the repertoire to be ...

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