The system

 India a beautiful, secular, republic is a place to so many different varieties of food, languages, customs, and traditions that are so different from one another but are blended together into our lives. Many of the age old traditions give us a toast of the rich heritage we have while on the other hand we see a system that is bogged down with superstitious beliefs, anarchy, bias against woman, and many more. The worst atrocities are committed towards women under the guise of Caste and Community. It is so prevalent in our society that it is not taken note at all. We are quite used to live with these pathos, and wonder when it will change or will it not. Here a reference to the Devadasi system is required. The practice dates back to the time when the ruling dynasties felt that women had to be married off to the deities in order to avoid any Ill luck or curse that may befall the kingdom. As a result these women pertained to leading a life of seclusion, worshipping the diety and singing and dancing to appease the deities. Ofcourse with passing of time these women were used as women who could appease the men by satisfying their bodily pleasures which no longer was sacred. As these women were trained singers and dancers they could lead a comfortable life.        

 The picture prompt in black and white may date back to many centuries ago, but it definitely is depicting how a young girl is seen dancing while few ladies are seated and observing her dance. There is a man who is playing the drum, mrudang or dhol all mean the same anyways. The painting made by an anonymous artist makes us wonder whether the young girl is dancing to get approval from the elderly ladies assembled in the hall or court. It appears as though the girl is ready to be declared as a devadasi and become an integral part of the already existing system.     In light of such a system flourishing, in recent times we have seen so many crusaders who have made the abolition of this system and bring the devadasis back into the mainstream. After all everybody has the right to live in a way they want. There is no denial about it.        

Let us read an inspiring story about a young girl coming out of this malaise and making it big in this big bad world. Urmi as she was named by her mother was a beautiful bundle of joy to her mother. She never knew who her father was as since the time she was born it was only her mother who looked after her. As urmi grew up she sensed that her roots were different unlike other children in her neighborhood. What the difference was she could not guess, nor her mother cleared any of her doubts. She was a bright child who was quick in learning and singing and dancing. But, all this fun was to be short lived. Urmi was to be a Devadasi. She had to serve the village goddess also known as gramadevata. She had to spend rest of her life serving the goddess idol. In the night she would be serving the Village head or the panch. The word 'serve' is pun intended. Yes, it was her duty to provide physical pleasure to the sarpanch. By the age of 14 she was the mother of a baby boy. How she carried the baby in her womb at such a fragile age when she herself was a child was not a bother to anyone and if at all her mother might have bothered she dared not to express it. By the time she was 16 years old she was the mother of another child and both born out of wedlock.

After a year her so-called partner got bored of her. He anyway did not have any legal obligation so he left her with two young children to feed and no income of any sort. She was forced to become a devadasi again. She was back to singing and dancing which was not so easy now. She was the mother of two children and her body was no longer so flexible and agile. As time went past Urmi realised that this was not the life she should lead and provide her children who were not at any fault. She made up. her mind and one fine day fled the village that had made her a victim of non sensical traditions. She was leading a life of a bonded labour. She escaped to a near by town and took up as many jobs as she could. She worked as a construction labourer, farm labourer, office assistant, school assistant and so on to raise her two children. She was able to provide a better life to her children who grew up and did well in whatever field they went. Her elder child, a girl learned stitching and embroidery. She joined a garment factory where her skills were preferred and she was paid well. Her son was a master of many arts. He was good at painting walls and ceilings. He was a good car mechanic too. Both these skills helped him to earn well. Did he stop at it? No, just like his mother he was learning skills that were in demand and would be perfect in a short time increasing his earning prowess.       Urmi realised that getting back into the mainstream society and gaining respect for a devadasi was not easy. So she formed an organisation of like minded people in order to give support and shelter to tormented ladies. They did not want any woman to undergo the bitter experiences life offers to devadasis. Apart from providing the much needed shelter their organisation along with the patronage of some social activists and philanthropists provide vocational training and education to make devadasis self reliant. Urmi did something remarkable and incredible not only for herself and her children but also to many hundreds like her and she was recognised for her contribution and awarded for that too by an unknown organization. Urmi had achieved this with a lot of grit and determination. Big round of applause to her and this is based on a very real life story.