The Devadasi System and Intersectional Feminism

Abstract

The devadasi system, originating in medieval India, began to serve the temple in the form of dance and rituals. Eventually, they served as sacred sex workers for the diety's sexual needs. The Devadasi were typically Dalits (the lowest caste), and thereby face a unique struggle as both Dalits and women in a religiously rooted system. Due to the lack of published works detailing the implications of overlapping identities and feminism on the Indian reform movement legislation, this paper aimed to examine the extent to which the introduction of intersectional feminism influenced South Indian postcolonial legislation regarding the devadasi system. It found the hypothesis to be supported. Thematic analysis was conducted as part of the initial research. Then, the results were quantified, through individual connotation scores that considered separate thematic elements and an overall score. The overall intersectionality score, a weighted average of the elements, for all prohibition legislation was significantly different from the control Panel Code, based on error bar analysis. Therefore, it can be concluded that the influence of intersectional feminism on the acts quantitatively supports the conclusion that the development of intersectional feminism in post-colonial South India influenced Devadasi legislation significantly.