Huvakka Bhimappa was not 10 years old when, subjected by her parents to the devotion of the Hindu goddess of fertility, she had to sacrifice her virginity, raped by her uncle: her sexual slavery would last for years.
The little girl had become what is known in South Indian culture as a “devadasi” and as such marriage with a mortal was now outlawed. His sexual initiation was, as usual, entrusted to an older man, in exchange for money or gifts.
“In my case, it was my mother’s brother” in exchange for a sari and some jewelry, told AFP Huvakka Bhimappa, close to 50 years old today.
Soon, under the pretext of devotion to the goddess Yellamma, she was subjected to other men who paid for her sexual favors. This prostitution, which does not say its name, supported his family for several years.
“If I hadn’t been a devadasi, I would have had a family, children and money. I would have lived well,” she laments, although she eventually escaped her bondage. .
Uneducated, she only found work in the fields for about a dollar a day.
By making their daughters Devadasis, the poorest families secure a source of income and save themselves the cost of a dowry and a wedding.
– “Two children at 17” –
Devadasi, which has been part of South Indian culture for centuries, once held a respectable place in society.
Many of them were educated, trained in classical dance and music, led comfortable lives and chose their sexual partners themselves.
“This notion of sexual slavery more or less authorized by religion was not part of the original system,” historian Gayathri Iyer told AFP.
According to her, in the 19th century, during the British colonial administration, the divine pact between the devadasi and the goddess turned into a business of sexual exploitation.
India only banned the practice nationally in 1988 but, according to the Indian Human Rights Commission, there are still more than 70,000 Devadasis in Karnataka.
The commission last year ordered Karnataka and several other Indian states to report on measures taken to prevent the practice.
Many households in Saundatti, a small town in the south of the country, where there is a temple dedicated to Yellamma, believe that having a devadasi in the family can bring luck and protect its members.
It was in this temple that Sitavva D. Jodatti was united with the goddess to support her parents. She was eight years old.
“When people get married, there is a bride and a groom. When I realized I was alone, I started crying,” she told AFP.
One day his father fell ill. She was immediately taken out of school and forced into prostitution to help fund the treatment.
“At the age of 17, I had two children,” she says.
She now heads an organization that helps former Devadasis recover, saying the practice “has been going on for several decades”.
– “Too young to give birth” –
According to Nitesh Patil, a district official responsible for Saundatti administration, there are no “recent cases”.
Many of the devadasis who survived found themselves destitute and survived on low-paid manual and agricultural work.
According to Rekha Bhandari, a former devadasi, all were subjected to “the blind practice of a tradition” which ruined their lives.
Aged 13 when her mother died, her virginity was offered to a 30-year-old man. She got pregnant.
“A normal childbirth was difficult. The doctor yelled at my family that I was too young to give birth, she confides to AFP, I did not understand anything. didn’t want to do”.
A few hours from the temple of Yellamma, the ex-devadasi Vatsala remembers being defrauded by a client and cursing him.
“After his affair with me he threw what I thought was money at me. It was in the middle of the night, I couldn’t see well and later I realized it was just paper,” Vatsala, 48, told AFP.
Shortly after, upon hearing that the scammer had just died, she said to herself: “Yellamma was angry too”.