Devadasi System in India

Devadasi System in IndiaComm wholly known as terpsichore girls or temple girls is a ashes that has come in to being for more than thousand years. When the great tamil kings belonging to the erst era Chola, Chera and Pandya Kings make huge temples for their gods, they felt that there is a need to brinytain these temples in a proper way and thus need full period devotees to take c ar of the diety and the temple premises. One an different(prenominal) angle wedded to constructing Huge temples argon to protect the commonwealth from flood, cyclone or every other natural disaster. In other words, temples ar meant to be shelter for the people of that argona from natural disasters. Hence they appointed girls to maintain these temples. The main subroutine of these girls are to sing and performing springs and taking care of the diety. They are considered to be the wives of the gods in the temple in which they are appointed. They are non on the wholeowed to espouse any mortal man d uring their life time. These girls are held in gamey esteem as they are considered to be close confident of the god. The jump which they perform is famously known as Barathanatyam the most famous saltation form of South India.This practise of dedicating girls to deities are commonly known as Devadasi System and the girls thus dedicated are known as Devadasi which is a Sanskrit word or Thevaradiyar which is a Tamil word that literally message female slaves of the god. As mentioned above these Devadasi are expected to be experts in Music and Dance. As years passed their service shifted from gods to earthly gods and lords . They are laboured to do service not only to the deities, but withal to the landlords and inscrutable devotees of the deities. In short, they started living the life of a prostitute with religious advocate and customary backing. Initially this body was prevalent only among the upper clique Hindus mapicularly of the Brahmin community .The British colonizat ion of India brought major modification in the religious and cultural fabric of India. The upper clique Brahmins booked major positions in British rule and were able to recognize the dance performed by Devadasi as Bharatanatyam and were able to give a cultural control for this form of dance, thus bringing out devadasiss to main stream of life.However, the brahminical Hindu Religion which is known for its Caste imbalances and discrimination against the lower clan sowed the seeds of the arranging into sparingly, politically and companionablely disadvantaged lower caste Dalit Hindus. This system started spreading its tentacles to other parts of the country in different forms and names such as Bogams in Andhra Pradesh, Jogatis or Basavis in Karnataka, Thevaradiyar in Tamil Nadu, Muralis in Maharashtra, Maharis in Kerala.Dalits dedicated their girls to the Diety mainly because of two reasons one is because of the irrational belief that it will bring glory to their family and their village, the other one is the economical reason that it is very difficult for the parents to marry of their daughter because of the prevalent parcel system and also if they dedicate the girl to the Diety, their family will be interpreted care of by the village rich man to whom the girl do the intimate favours in the name of the Diety. Over a period of time, this practice has re bring outed a clear violation of world Rights with these Dalit Devadasis were dedicated with a hidden object of performing sexual favours to initially upper caste Hindus and then they become a public property forcing them to enter prostitution. They are also not allowed to marry any man of their choice and practically fell a prey into the hands of Broker agents representing brothels from Mumbai and other areas. some(prenominal) movementsIndia is a party to a number of Human Rights Instruments like that of foreignistic arrangement of Civil and Political Rights 1966, The planetary Covenant for Econ omic, amicable and cultural Rights 1966, The planetary host for the Elimination of All forms of racial Discrimination 1966 which advocates for among others, able rights for women and prohibits racial discrimination in any count. Added to that provincial states in India has enacted jurisprudence like The Bombay Devadasi Act 1934, The Devadasi(Prevention of Dedication) Madras Act 1947 The Karnataka Devadasi (Prohibition of Dedication) Act, 1982 to tackle this menace of Devadasi System. Irrespective of this, it is astray reported that this system prevails in some parts of India in particular among the Dalit community.This root word attempts to find out the root causes of the system and the reason why this system is still prevalent in India. wherefore, this paper is divided into four parts, the ongoing is the first part that introduces the topic, detonate II deals with the History and Origin of Devadasi System, Part III deals with the Social movements that fought against the Devadasi system, Part IV analyses Indias obligation to eradicate the system in line with the global obligation which it assumed through motley treaties and finally part IV concludes with recommendations to eradicate the same.DEVADASI SYSTEM AND VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS spatial relation OF INDIAS LEGAL OBLIGATIONDevadasis could face discrimination on three counts viz as a cleaning woman, as a Dalit and sometimes as a child. International community has time and again tried to address the issue by way of multilateral Conventions/Treaties making member states to eliminate these kind of discriminations. Accordingly a number of International Instruments are made at the international level to address these menace which includes the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant for Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the International Convention for Elimination of Racial Discriminat ion (ICERD), the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimintion against Women (CEDAW).One of the purposes of the United Nations is to achieve international co-operation in promoting and encouraging respect for kind-hearted rights and for fundamental emancipations for all without greenback as to race, sex, language or religion and to be a internality for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of this purpose. Art 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. Art 2 further bestows rights upon individuals without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Similarly Art of the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights 1966, prohibits discrimination of any kind including discrimination found on social origin . Art 2(1) of ICCPR man terms the state parti es to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the present covenant. Art 2(2) requires the state parties to adopt such legislative or other measures as may be necessary to give effect to the rightsAs mentioned above, India is a founding member of these Conventions. However India has not till date enacted any modify mandate to implement the same in the domestic sphere. Without an implementing legislation Indian courts may not be able to put on the provision of these treaties in the domestic realms. needless to say, Treaties are considered to be the main source of international impartiality. When it comes to human rights, treaties play an important role. Human rights treaties have contributed to the development of customary rules and general principles of international law. They create obligations not only among parties but also between parties and individuals. More important, these treaties have become a source of inspiration to many judges and lawyers in their interpretation of domestic legislation. Some international organizations grant their membership only to those states, which. ratify accredited human rights treaties. The ratification of human rights treaties demonstrates the ratifying states adherence to civilised standards. As a result, a states credentials in international society depend in part a1 least on the acceptance of and compliance with its obligations under human rights treaties. Thus the ratification of Human Rights treaties by India may be seen as an act to outshow the world that it is a civilized nation thus avoiding closing off in international Human Rights diplomacy.But the non- number of a domestic enabling legislation alone cannot be considered as failure on the part of the member state to fulfill the international obligation which it assumed by way of treaty. A state may not go for the enactment of domestic legislation if it is satisfied with its existing legislativ e mechanism that the legislation in place are sufficient enough to tackle the menace. In this regard it is imperative to look and analyse the legislative mechanism in India aimed at the abolition of the system of Devadasi. Indian Constitutional and Legal pabulum relating to Womens RightsIndian Constitution contains several provisions relating to women and children. However equality and freedom has always been neglected in the name .of custom, honour, family social welfare and social prestige. equation that is guaranteed in the constitution of India is a dynamic one. While hoping for the ideal of equality, it does not recognise the realities of inequalities. Article 14 of the Constitution recognises equality before law for all citizens without any discrimination. Article 15 prohibits discrimination on railway yard of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth. Article 15 (3) says about contraceptive discrimination to women and children and Article 21 says about the protection o f life and indecorousness to all.The Constitution also ensures protection against traffic in human beings and labored labour. Art 42 says about provisions for just and humane conditions of represent and maternity relief. The protection for women in the work place is given in factories Act 1948. It includes several welfare regulations and protective measures for women and children in working places, incision 125 of criminal procedure code 1973 provides maintenance to women. Indian penal code Sections 509, 294 and 354 deals with Eve-teasing and sexual Harassment. The Indecent Representation Of women (protection) Act, 1986 for preventing the depiction of a woman in a manner which is derogating or denigrating to women, or which is believably to corrupt public morality through advertisement. Publications, writings, paintings, figures, or in any other manner. Indian Judiciary was also pro-active in guarding womens rights in general. In some of the leading cases such as In State of u .P. v. Boden Sundara Rao the flower Court came down heavily on the High Court of Andhra Pradesh for present grossly inadequate sentence in the following wordsCrimes against women are cm the rise. Imposition of grossly inadequate sentence and particularly against the mandate of the legislature not only is an injustice to .the victim of the execration in particular and the society as a whole in general, but also at times encourages a criminal. The courts must not only keep in view the rights of the criminal but also the rights of the victim of a crime and the society at large while considering importance of appropriate punishment.In Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan. The Vishaka, an Organization working for the welfare of the women, moved toSC when a social worker was gangraped in Rajasthan. While decision making the case the Supreme Court brought the international conventions in Indian Law. How they are trying to incorporate it is very well understood from the words. . Some sustenan ce in the CEDAW-Arts 11 and 24 as also general recommendations of CEDAW in this context-articles 11, 22, 23, 24 as ratified in the present context are of significant.According to the Supreme Court, Sexual harassment includes such unwelcome demeanor (whether directly or by implication) as (i) physical contact or advances (ii) a demand to request for sexual favours (iii) sexllally co loured remarks (iv) showing dirty word (v) any other unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual behaviour.Though the Indian system is quite effective in protect the Womens rights, it served limited purpose in protecting women who are Devadasis particularly from the Dalit community. Needless to say there were several legislations which prohibited this system and provided rehabilitation for the same.