Devadasi System in Telangana

• In India, the Devadasi system has been prevalent from ancient times.
• Dedication of a girl to a temple is the Devadasi system. Devadasis dedicate their rest of life in the service to God.
• The Devadasi system is related to Vaishnava tradition.
• This is the culture of Aryans and Upper Caste.
• According to this, in a family one girl from each generation is married to the deity in the temple.
• The word Devadasi in Sanskrit means Women Servant of God.
• The Devadasis were experts in literature and fine arts. They used to sing and dance before the gods in temples.
• The Dances done by these people were known as Sadar, Darbar Play, Nettuva Melam, Kacheri Play.
• In Devadasi, the Matriarchal system is followed.
• In Muslims, dedication of girls to Dargah is
• Known as the “Achyuthis” system.
• Girl married to the Holy Quran is known as “Bibi”.

Struggle against Devadasi:

• Bhagya Reddy Varma fought for the eradication of Jogini and Devadasi system through his organization “Manya Sangam”.
• In Telangana, research on the Devadasi system was done by Narayana Swamy, Gadiyaram Ramakrishna and Kala Krishna.
• Muthu Lakshmi Reddy (TN), Raghupati Venkata Ratnam Naidu fought for the eradication of devadasi system.