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Devadasi

group of women who dedicated themselves to the service of the patron god of the nice temples in eastern and southern India. This order or caste seems to this point from the 9th and 10th centuries. Members of the order attended the god-fanned the icon, honored it with lights, and sang and danced for the god's amusement-and thereby offered their auspicious presence to the deity. They played an important part in preserving elements of Hindu tradition-for example, by performing the nice Sanskrit poem Gita govinda for its hero, the god Krishna, in the temple devoted to him in Puri. The little kids of Devadasis had equal rights of inheritance, an uncommon observe among Hindu castes. Until the 20th century they were fairly seen; in about 1800 the principle temple of Kanchipuram (Conjeeveram) had a hundred Devadasis. They got here to be held in low social regard because their occupation concerned temple prostitution, and by the tip of the twentieth century they'd largely disappeared.