<h2>CHAPTER XXVIII</h2>
<h3>Blue Book Evidence</h3>
<div class='center'>
"The precipitous sides of difficult questions."—E. B. B.<br/><br/></div>
<div class='cap'>OUR first evidence consists of abridged extracts from the
Census Report for 1901. After explaining the different
names by which Temple women are known in
different parts of the Madras Presidency, the Report continues:
"The servants of the gods, who subsist by dancing and music
and the practice of 'the oldest profession in the world,' are
partly recruited by admissions and even purchases from other
classes. . . . The rise of the Caste and its euphemistic name
seem to date from the ninth and tenth centuries, during which
much activity prevailed in South India in the matter of building
Temples and elaborating the services held in them. . . .
The duties then, as now, were to fan the idol with Tibetan
ox-tails, to carry the sacred light, and to sing and dance
before the god when he is carried in procession. Inscriptions
show that in <span class="smcap">a.d.</span> 1004 the great Temple of the Chola
king at Tanjore had attached to it four hundred women of
the Temple, who lived in free quarters in the four streets
round it, and were allowed tax-free land out of its endowments.
Other Temples had similar arrangements. . . . At the
present day they form a regular Caste, having its own laws
of inheritance, its own customs and rules of etiquette, and
its own councils to see that all these are followed, and they<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</SPAN></span>
hold a position which is perhaps without a parallel in any
other country. . . .</div>
<p>"The daughters of the Caste who are brought up to follow
the Caste profession are carefully taught dancing and singing,
the art of dressing well, ;. . . and their success in keeping
up their clientele is largely due to the contrast which they
thus present to the ordinary Hindu housewife, whose ideas
are bounded by the day's dinners and babies."</p>
<p>Closely allied to this Caste is that formed by the Temple
musicians, who with the Temple woman are "now practically
the sole repository of Indian music, the system of which is
probably one of the oldest in the world." In certain districts
the Report states that a custom obtains among certain castes,
under which a family which has no sons must dedicate one
of its daughters to Temple service. The daughter selected is
taken to a Temple and married there to a god, the marriage
symbol being put on her as in a real marriage. Henceforth
she belongs to the god.</p>
<p>Writing in 1904, a member of the Indian Civil Service
says: "I heard of a case of dedication (three girls) at A.
at the beginning of this year, but I could not get any evidence.
The cases very rarely indeed come up officially, as nearly every
Hindu is interested in keeping them dark." We, too, have
had the same difficulty, and the evidence we now submit is
doubly valuable because of its source. It is very rarely that
we have found it possible to get behind the scenes sufficiently
to obtain reliable information from those most concerned in
this traffic.</p>
<p>The head priest of one of our Temples admitted to a
friend who was watching for <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'opportunties'">opportunities</ins> to get information
for us that the "marriage to the god is effected privately by
the Temple priest at the Temple woman's house, with the
usual marriage-symbol ceremony. To <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'aviod'">avoid</ins> the Penal Code
(which forbids the marriage of children to gods) a nominal<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</SPAN></span>
bridegroom is sometimes brought for the wedding day to
become the nominal husband. This Caste is recruited by
secret adoption."</p>
<p>A Temple woman's son, now living the ordinary life apart
from his clan, explains the very early marriage thus: "If
not married, they will not be considered worthy of honour.
Before the children reach the age of ten they must be married. . . .
They become the property of the Temple priests and
worshippers who go to the Temple to chant the sacred
songs."</p>
<div class="sidenote">"The Child should be about Eight"</div>
<p>A Temple woman herself told a friend of ours: "The child
is dressed like a bride, and taken with another girl of the
same community, dressed like a boy in the garb of a bridegroom.
They both go to the Temple and worship the idol.
This ceremony is common, and performed openly in the
streets." In a later letter from the same friend further
details are given: "The child, who should be about eight
or nine years old, goes as if to worship the idol in the
Temple. There the marriage symbol is hidden in a garland,
and the garland is put over the idol, after which it is taken
to the child's home and put round her neck." After this she
is considered married to the god.</p>
<p>A young Temple woman in a town near Dohnavur told
us she had been given to the Temple when she was five years
old. Her home was in the north country, but she did not
remember it. She had, of course, understood nothing of the
meaning of the ceremony of marriage. She only remembered
the pretty flowers and general rejoicing and pleasure. Afterwards,
when she began to understand, she was not happy, but
she gradually got accustomed to it. Her adopted relations
were all the friends she had. She was fond of them and
they of her. Her "husband" was one of the Temple priests.</p>
<p>A Hindu woman known to us left home with her little
daughter and wandered about as an ascetic. She went to a<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</SPAN></span>
famous Temple, where it is the custom for such as desire to
become ascetics to enter the life by conforming to certain
ceremonies ordained by the priests. She shaved her head,
took off her jewels, wore a Saivite necklet of berries, and
was known as a devotee. She had little knowledge of the
life before she entered it, and only gradually became aware
of the character borne by most of her fellow-devotees.
When she knew, she fled from them and returned to her own
village and the secular life, finding it better than the
religious.</p>
<div class="sidenote">How she is Trained</div>
<p>In telling us about it she said: "I expected whiteness, I
found blackness." She told us that she constantly came into
contact with Temple women, none of whom had chosen the
life as she and her fellow-ascetics had chosen theirs. "Always
the one who is to dance before the gods is given to the life
when she is very young. Otherwise she could not be properly
trained. Many babies are brought by their parents and given
to Temple women for the sake of merit. It is very meritorious
to give a child to the gods. Often the parents are
poor but of good Caste. Always suitable compensation and
a 'joy gift' is given by the Temple women to the parents.
It is an understood custom, and ensures that the child is a
gift, not a loan. The amount depends upon the age and
beauty of the child. If the child is old enough to miss her
mother, she is very carefully watched until she has forgotten
her. Sometimes she is shut up in the back part of the house,
and punished if she runs out into the street. The punishment
is severe enough to frighten the child. Sometimes it is branding
with a hot iron upon a place which does not show, as
under the arm; sometimes nipping with the nail till the
skin breaks; sometimes a whipping. After the child is
reconciled to her new life, occasionally her people are allowed
to come if they wish; and in special circumstances she pays
a visit to her old home. But this is rare. If she has been<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</SPAN></span>
adopted as an infant, she knows nothing of her own relations,
but thinks of her adopted mother as her own mother. As
soon as she can understand she is taught all evil and trained
to think it is good."</p>
<p>As to her education, the movements of the dance are taught
very early, and the flexible little limbs are rendered more
flexible by a system of massage. In all ways the natural
grace of the child is cultivated and developed, but always
along lines which lead far away from the freedom and innocence
of childhood. As it is important she should learn a
great deal of poetry, she is taught to read (and with this
object in view she is sometimes sent to the mission school,
if there is one near her home). The poetry is almost entirely
of a debased character; and so most insidiously, by story and
allusion, the child's mind is familiarised with sin; and before
she knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the
instinct which would have been her guide is tampered with
and perverted, till the poor little mind, thus bewildered and
deceived, is incapable of choice.</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</SPAN></span></p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.