Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies - DUBOIS, Abbé Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies, Dubois | Page 625

TEMPLE DANCING-GIRLS
585
in the second rank
they are called deva-
dasis (servants or slaves of the gods), but the public call
them by the more vulgar name of prostitutes. And in fact
they are bound by their profession to grant their favours,
if such they be, to anybody demanding them in return for
ready money. It appears that at first they were reserved
exclusively for the enjoyment of the Brahmins.
And these
lewd women, who make a public traffic of their charms, are
consecrated in a special manner to the worship of the
divinities of India.
Every temple of any importance has
in its service a band of eight, twelve, or more.
Their
official duties consist in dancing and singing within the
temple twice a day, morning and evening, and also at all
take their place
;
The first they execute with sufficient
although their attitudes are lascivious and their
As regards their singing, it is almost
gestures indecorous.
always confined to obscene verses describing some licentious
episode in the history of their gods. Their duties, however,
are not confined to religious ceremonies.
Ordinary polite-
ness (and this is one of the characteristic features of Hindu
morality) requires that when persons of any distinction
make formal visits to each other they must be accompanied
by a certain number of these courtesans. To dispense with
them would show a want of respect towards the persons
visited, whether the visit was one of duty or of polite-
public ceremonies.
grace,
ness \
These women are also present at marriages and other
solemn family meetings. All the time which they have to
spare in the intervals of the various ceremonies is devoted
and it is not an
to infinitely more shameful practices
uncommon thing to see even sacred temples converted into
mere brothels.
They are brought up in this shameful
licentiousness from infancy, and are recruited from various
;
some among them belonging to respectable families.
not unusual for pregnant women, with the object of
obtaining a safe delivery, to make a vow, with the consent
of their husbands, to devote the child that they carry in
their womb, if it should turn out a girl, to the temple
service.
They are far from thinking that this infamous
vow offends in any way the laws of decency, or is contrary
castes,
It is
1
This custom
is
certainly not observed at the present clay.
U
3
Ed.