Many embrace us, but no one protects

William Dalrymple has an article in the New Yorker about the sad lives of the Devadasis of India.

Poignant and almost poetic words from one prostitute, (called "Ran" here; name changed), who is quoted extensively in the article:

"Everyone sleeps with us, but no one marries us. Many embrace us, but no one protects. ”
...
“If I were to sit under a tree and tell you the sadness we have to suffer, the leaves of that tree would fall like tears."

And then, in sheer helplessness, she turns to their Goddess, to whom they were "dedicated" before being sold into the profession!

“Yellamma never wanted it to be like this,” Rani said.
“The goddess is sitting silently,” Kaveri said. “We don’t know what feelings she has about us. Who really knows what she is thinking?”
“No,” Rani said, firmly shaking her head. “The goddess looks after us. When we are in distress, she comes to us. Sometimes in our dreams. Sometimes in the form of one of her children.”
“It is not the goddess’s doing.”
“The world has made it like this.”
“The world, and the disease.”
“The goddess dries our tears,” Rani said. “If you come to her with a pure heart, she will take away your sadness and your sorrows. What more can she do?”

The article does briefly cover some of the history & traditions, hiding behind which this practice of prostitution continues even today. I do not know much about the history of the Devadasis i.e. I have not read any books or well-researched articles on the subject. However, my opinion is that putting a religious spin about it and hiding behind so-called traditions merely ignores the fact that even historically it was likely what it is now -- exploitation of the poor and needy! "Rani" says all that is to be said of this so-called "religious practice."

I asked her whether her auspicious status made any difference to her clients when they came to be entertained. "No,” she said. “There is no devotional feeling in bed. Fucking is fucking. There I am just another woman. Just another whore.”

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck.....

P.S. Some additional thoughts: I wondered why this rankled me so much. Prostitution is arguably the world's oldest profession. And the devadasi system is perhaps not the worst kind; considering that in many other cases (in India and elsewhere around the world) kidnapped young girls are forced into this kind of a life and worse. Perhaps it was the false pretenses and the whole "religious" spin f being "dedicated" to a deity behind which this dehumanization of a person and her life is carried out is what upsets me more than anything else.