Children of Devadasis: Challenges and the Need for Recent Posts

Future Reforms
Sampark
Recommendations for
Future Policy Action and
Rights Advocacy for
Devadasis

September 2, 2021

Children of Devadasis:
Challenges and the Need
for Future Reforms

August 24, 2021

Can We Deliver Justice to

the Devadasis? Laws and
Current Policy Landscape
in India

August 12, 2021

Related Posts

Sampark
Recommendations for
Future Policy Action and
Rights Advocacy for
Devadasis

September 2, 2021

Can We Deliver Justice to

the Devadasis? Laws and
Current Policy Landscape
in India

August 12, 2021

While the existing devadasis continue to suffer repercussions of their dedication, the
children of Devadasis too face and grapple with the undeserved struggles that have
become bitter remnants of the past – a past which risks ruining their present and future. The Present Day Devadasi
system: Sexual exploitation
of women in the name of
Present Challenges tradition

August 11, 2021

According to a study conducted by Sampark, 62 of 70 Devadasi respondents reported
that they had children. When asked if they had ever considered dedicating their children,
all made it clear that they would never wish such a life upon their children. Yet, the wishes
Tags
of a few suffering, helpless women are not what society considers. Despite the practice

being illegal, young female children are pressured to become Devadasis to support their Charity (2) child sexual abuse (1) devadasi
families. More often than not, the Devadasi and her children are ostracised by the village (1) devadasi abolition (1) devadasichildren
community, forcing them to live a life of neither respect nor acceptance. (2) devadasis (1) devadasi welfare schemes
(1) education (1) laws and policies (1)
In terms of education, the scenario isn’t great either. Even if one ignores the uncivil Migrant construction's Workers
comments passed, these children are usually deprived of a good education. The figure (1) nautch girls (1) NGO (2) policy actionfor
below illustrates the answers to the question, “Have your children been educated?” A devadasis (1) policy landscape (1) sadirnattam (1)
whopping 23 mentioned that not all of their children had completed schooling, and 12
respondents said that none of their children had. The main reasons cited for non-
completion of even primary levels of education were usually a lack of nancial security,
which forced them to drop out and contribute economically. Another frequently cited
reason was the lack of interest from students.
 Level of education of children of
devadasis

Additionally, the documentation process in most institutions mandates the ling of the
father’s name but not the mother’s. Devadasi children are neither allowed to take the
names of their fathers nor exercise a right over their properties.

This brings forth the challenge of inheritance and maintenance. While these are
important rights in civil law, in the case of Devadasis, since there is no marriage, the
children traditionally are considered to be born out of wedlock and are the children of the
Devadasi alone. There is an operational hurdle too. Since some Devadasis may cohabit
with more than one partner, there are difficulties in ascertaining parentage, responsibility
and benefits. The onus of proving parentage is also upon Devadasis which is difficult and
compounded by the social dynamics (NCW 2016).

There is thus, at least societally, no onus on the partner to provide for the child. In fact, in
the study conducted by Sampark, 42% of respondents mentioned that their partners did
not provide for the children at all, while some had not even seen their faces. Similarly, in
the NCW study, 82% of Devadasis themselves opined that their children were not able to
inherit the property of the father or use their name, while only 6% asserted that they are
expected to inherit (NCW 2016). This deprives the children of crucial nancial support and
assets that could assist social mobility but instead places the burden of care entirely on
the Devadasi who is usually already economically vulnerable herself.

Read More: https://www.sampark.org/blog/children-of-devadasis-challenges-and-the-

need-for-future-reforms/

What Needs to be Done?

Out of the overall help and support that is provided to Devadasis and their children, the
majority comes from NGOs and through informal sources; no absolute help is received
from the government especially in terms of rights, healthcare, education and law.
Consequently, Devadasis have limited support systems; while the pension provided by
the Government helps to a limited extent, more such systems need to be in place. One
mechanism is to ensure that the Devadasi community can be channelized in support of
each other. While the Government can play some role on this front, an important
stakeholder to take this forward would be Civil Society Organizations. Apart from this,
steps must be taken to legally ensure that Devadasis receive support from their partners.
This can be done by recognizing the partners of Devadasis as has been done in the case
of the Domestic Violence Act in the case of Live-in Relationships. The support thus
garnered may not necessarily be benef i c i a l directly for Devadasis but may aid them in
the development of their children.

Education-wise, these children are eligible to join any course – medical, engineering, IAS,
KAS, etc. For the children to have a good foundation, the government must develop
measures that ensure that no child is left behind. This must include some form of
nancial incentives or reservations as well as support in terms of easing their enrolment
and access to schooling and higher education. The existing scheme for daughters of
Devadasis also needs to be further publicized and possibly reviewed to ensure improved
uptake. They also need to be added as beneficiaries of schemes that children of other
backward classes are eligible for.

Once a good foundation is laid through education, the next key step is to ensure access
to good quality livelihoods which also ensures dignity of labour. To achieve this, there
needs to be a targeted skill development approach. This will ensure that some of the
challenges mentioned by Devadasis concerning their children accessing jobs can be
overcome.
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