La Strada Documentation Center

Women in Ritual Slavery: Devadasi, Jogini and Mathamma in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Southern India

Document number
1930
Date
2007
Title
Women in Ritual Slavery: Devadasi, Jogini and Mathamma in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Southern India
Author/publisher
Anti Slavery International
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Human trafficking, Slave Labour, Sexual Exploitation, Slavery, Servitude, Forced Labour, Debt bondage, Labour exploitation, Domestic labour, Slavery-like practices; Agricultural labour;
Summary
During 2006, Anti-Slavery International undertook a research project into the practice of ritual sexual slavery or forced religious 'marriage'. The custom of 'marrying' girls to a deity, thereby depriving them of the right to ordinary marriage and assigning them to sexual exploitation by the deity's priests or devotees, existed in many ancient cultures, including in Europe, the Middle East, West Africa and South Asia. In a few settings, this type of ritual slavery or sexual servitude has continued until the present day, including the practice of Trokosi in some parts of West Africa; and various forms of Devadasi (from the Sanskrit words deva meaning god or goddess and dasi meaning servant) among Hindu populations in southern India and Nepal.

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