Book Review - NITYASUMANGALI : DEVADASI TRADITION IN SOUTH INDIA by SASKIA. C. KERSENBOOM

NITYASUMANGALI :  DEVADASI TRADITION IN SOUTH INDIA 

by  

SASKIA. C.  KERSENBOOM

[Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Pvt. Ltd. Delhi, 1998 Reprint, pp. 226,  price: Rs 295]

This was a book reviewed by me ages ago. 

INTRODUCTION

Who was the Nityasumangali (ever-auspicious woman) the author was dealing with?  The Devadasi.  How can the devadasi, one of the most despised women, be an ever-auspicious person? Is it just another foreigner’s attempt to love Indian culture so much as to admire the seemingly anachronistic tradition?  Does she justify it?  These are the questions which strike any reader’s mind when she comes across this book and this reviewer is no exception.  A study of the book answers them.

 OBJECTIVES

          The author, herself an exponent of Bharatanatyam, a classical dance of South India, sought, in this book, to delve deep to understand the meaning of the devadasi system (the system of ritual women- literally slave of god) in the broader cultural context of south India.

METHODOLOGY 

          Other than the introductory and concluding ones, this book is divided into three chapters in which the author traces the origin, function and form and rites of passage of the devadasis of south India, with specific reference to Tamil Nadu.  Theoretically, the book follows neither the historical nor the sociological methodology.  Instead, it takes a semiotic approach to investigate the cultural ‘sign’ of the devadasi as a “two-faced entity, linking a material vehicle or signifier with a mental concept or signified”, since semiotics as a science is dedicated to the production of the meaning in society.  The devadasi is the signifier of the signified, i.e., the Hindu tradition, according to this book.

          The author aims to investigate the poesis which gave rise to the necessity of the phenomenon of the devadasi and the semiosis that translated the underlying poetic idea into meaningful signs which constituted the devadasi tradition within the Hindu culture, as well as these signs in themselves as represented by the traditional tasks of the devadasis in the temple ritual in Tamil Nadu.

          In the world where the auspicious and the inauspicious co-existed, the devadasi- nityasumangali was to ensure that everything was danger- proof.

SOURCES

          The author has utilized literary sources in Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu to understand and the implication of the system and supplemented it with interviews with former devadasi- nityasumangalis and their accompanists to present to the reader the meaning of this controversial woman in the Hindu cultural life.

PRESENTATION

          The author has traced the cultural conditions obtaining right from the Sangam Age down to that of the Tanjore Nayaka rulers to understand this phenomenon.  The cultural life of the Sangam Age is signified by the akam and the puram poetry, one extremely erotic and the other, fiercely and violently warlike.  The manifestation of the divine in such a cultural milieu was both benevolent and malevolent.  The king was identified with the divine and there was extensive bardic activity in support of that.  Female bards like virali and patini sang his praise and waxed eloquent the bravery of the king and his ancestors.  These two were the most likely antecedents of the devadasi.  In course of time, they first transformed into the ganika before graduating as devadasi at a later stage. The malevolent manifestation of the divine was so dangerous that it had to be propitiated.  This, according to the author, causes the need of a devadasi who would do the needful.

          In the Pallava and the Pandya period, one finds temples being hewn out of rocks and also the bhakti of the Saivite Nayanars and the Vaishnavite Alwars.  The author relates the lives of the earliest of these saints to the bardic universe, wherein Karaikkalammaiyar accompanies Siva’s dance in the burial ground as pey- makal (demon-lady).  Kersenboon further relates the story of Kannappan with the custom of hero-stone worship.  The bhakti of the tribal Kannappan exists side-by -side with violence ---- he kills a boar and offers it to Siva; in addition, he is prepared to implant his eye on the lord’s, which bleeds.  In this period, one also finds kings conquering lands and impaling the non-followers of the religion.  In this context, the first instance of girls serving in temples with specifically- assigned tasks is found in the 9^th century poetry of saint Manikkavacakar; their main duty was to ensure auspiciousness.

          In the Chola period, opulence and grandeur manifested themselves in two ways- the temple and the king’s court.  With temples having greater funds, several servants were employed for specific purposes and these grants became hereditary.  The kings’ entourage always had dancing girls, 3000 of whom were on daily attendance, in rotation.  Dancers were of two types, temple-dancers and courtesans. Among the former, the highest position was held by rsabhataliyar (those belonging to the temple of the bull) followed by tevaratiyar (slaves of god) and patiyilar (those belonging to the pati, implying residence or lamp placed on a pot or driving away devils from a person by magic) .  The term devadasi occurs for the first time in the Chola period.  There are other general terms indicating the devadasi------- taliccerippentukal (women belonging to the street of the temple), rudraganika (courtesan of Rudra-Siva), Manikkam (ruby or dancing girl), talaikkol (female holding the talaikkol-rod).

          The literature of the Vijayanagara throws light on the war-state that Vijayanagara was.  The devadasi- nityasumangali had a role to play to ward off the evil eye as well as to adorn the king’s court.  The total variety of female artists employed by the various political- religious centres peaked during this period.

          In the post- Vijayanagara period, the Tanjore court helped amalgamate different streams of culture and consolidated and preserved them.

          After having presented the diachronic ramifications of the tradition, the author turns to the socio-cultural foci, which account for the synchronic occurrence in this study- oral, agamic and court/patron culture.  She links up the dangerous divine concept of the oral tradition with the need for the nityasumangali, whose primary duty was to propitiate the goddess.  She then identifies the categories into which village deities fall and elaborates on their manifestation and means of propitiation.  The devadasi developed from the nityasumangali types found in the village cults but acquired a lot more prestige while being a part of the Agamic temple.  The nityasumangali performed a 3-fold role in the king’s court – accompanying the king during processions, performing kumbharati for the king daily and, in an elaborate way, on festival days and rendering the atmosphere of the court auspicious by the performance of song and dance.

          In the second chapter, the author analyses the function and form of the devadasi tradition within the temple ritual in Tamil Nadu.  She first sketches the Hindu’s place in the universe in terms of space and time and places the temple amidst it.  It was the place where the victory of the good over evil was celebrated and demonstrated not only in a symbolic but mystical way.  The three varieties of worship, nityarchana (daily worship), naimittikarchana (festival worship) and kamyarchana (optional worship) are linked to the three gunas, sattva, rajas and tamas respectively, based on the returns expected from the worship.  In the nityarchanas, the devadasi cleans not only the precincts of the temple but also the plates for offering light in the morning prayers.  She played her most important role in the evening when she waved the pot lamp (kumbhadipa) to dispel the evil eye from the image of the temple.   Certain temples chose some houses of devadasis for work and even allotted the job on a yearly basis, though the right to wave the lamp was hereditary.  The chayaratchai puja was the most popular worship of the day – the devadasi would fan the god with a fly – whisk (chamara).  While performing the duty, she was to observe absolute ritual purity (mati).  She would have to wear a 9-yard saree in the Brahmin way, have Vibhuti (sacred ash) and kumkumam (vermillion) on her forehead, tie her hair into a knot and also wear a large number of black-bead strings.

          In the naimittikarchana, she performs multiple functions from cleaning of the temple to singing songs in praise of the lord.  She waves the pot lamp in the morning as well.  She ‘shows hands’ at several balipeethas around the temple.  Once the deity completes circumambulation, and is taken inside, the devadasi sings cradle songs, swing songs and lullabies.  If the wedding (kalyanotsava) of the deity takes place, the devadasis act as bridal maids. They also depict the quarrel between the lord and his consorts (pranayotsava). During several topical festivals, they do additional duties as well-dance concert (chatir-kaccheri), performance of dance-drama, singing of songs, recitation of stotras and others.  Thus, during festive occasions, the devadasi performed a three – fold role – propitiatory and ritual tasks and entertainment.

          The form of the tradition ranged from the wake-up (melukolupu) songs to pushpanjali (flower worship) to erotic songs like javalis and padas.  The dance would range from suddha (pure) to misra (mixed) to kevala (gross) depending on the occasion and audience she performed for.

          In the third chapter, the author elaborates on the rites of passage of the devadasis of Tamil Nadu.  She first clarifies that there was no devadasi caste as such and that the devadasis were recruited from several castes, Vellalas, Kaikkolans, and others.  It was not easy for a girl to become a devadasi.  In addition to having a beautiful body, she should have been well -versed in arts.  Certain temples also insisted on the character of her ancestors.  On top if it, she had to apply to the Raja who controlled the temple she wished to enter into. After she was found fit, she would then get married in a ritualistic way to the lord, with one of the senior devadasis tying the tali (sacred ribbon/marital knot) round her week.  After one month, the newly initiated one would decide whether she would marry or live with a patron.  In addition to all the rights she would have as a devadasi, she also would have the privilege of the god mourning her death by observing pollution.  She would also have the honour of dying a sumangali (a woman who pre-deceased her husband).

          After having gone through the book, one would not grudge the title.  Since she was a married woman whose husband was alive, the devadasi was a sumangali.  Because her husband was eternal, she could never lose the attributes of a sumangali and therefore, she was a nityasumangali.  Moreover, her primary duty was to keep evil away.  In this way the author has treated the issue of the devadasi tradition in a semiotic way.

          However, the review of the book is incomplete without mentioning a few issues concerning women.  The author, while dealing with the rites of passage of the devadasis, reproduces an interview with an Ellamma dasi, who observed that there would be destruction if girls did not dedicate themselves to the deity.  Now, the obvious question that comes to the reader’s mind is the reason why the author did not investigate into the utter ignorance of the people which made their girls dasis first and prostitutes later.  The logic which traced the origin and evolution of the tradition is conspicuous by its absence here.  In the interview, the dasi also mentions the word business to speak of the profession and implies the element of coercion of parents other elders.  Given the sensitive nature of the issue, the author should have paid much more attention to such statements.   

 In another context the author mentions that one devadasi was known as the favorite of the king and opines that devadasis were respected and that some of them even made large donations to the temples.  In the days when might was right, the people either out of fear or to seek favour, would have respected the devadasi; economic power also would have commanded respect.  Hence, the statements are quite challengeable.

          The author observes in conclusion, that the anti-nautch movement wiped away the cream of the devadasis. Given the progressive and non-coercive nature of the movement, such statements appear ridiculous even if they were made in support of a theory.  It is true that the tradition originated with a good intention, but one cannot relish the bad aspect of one’s culture.

          In general, when women’s studies have thrown up new questions in regard to the position of women, this book represents an opposite view or remains silent.  While the women writers have rightly questioned the concept of sumangali on the ground that is accords an inferior status for the womenfolk, this book deals with nityasumangali, which is even more insulting to the dignity of women.  Kersenboom should have also considered the actual circumstances which brought girls into this profession.  Moreover, most of the devadasis ended up as mistresses, which was not a respectable position, anyway.  Writers on women’s studies would naturally find the system as a web which entangled women, fixed them in an inferior position and prevented their emancipation.

          In conclusion, the book can be read, for the pleasure of reading.  But a word for caution for the prospective reader ---- do not take the content literally, least you should end up starting a revivalist movement for the anachronistic tradition.