BENGALURU: The children of former Devadasis, most of whom are Dalits, are bound together in the common suffering, of not knowing who their father is and the agony of their mother’s ignominious livelihood forced upon her in the name of God.
Their questions are existential, but the answers are complex, evasive, and cruel. They either evoke silence and emotional breakdown from their mothers or abuse by society, which brands them as children of prostitutes. The crisis of identity is a huge challenge for children of former Devadasis, who have now turned to the government to help them overcome their dilemma by making the “name of father” column optional in application forms.
Many NGOs empowering kids of Devadasis
“The forms, starting from mother and child card to birth certificate, hospital and anganwadi registration, education, scholarships, hostels, jobs and other government schemes have the column for father’s name. We request the government to save us from this humiliation and make the column optional,” said Lakshmi (17), an undergraduate student.
“We don’t know who our father is and even if we come to know who he is, we never get to see him. Nor does he acknowledge us. Each time we have to fill a form, the name of the father crops up like a threat. Why can’t the government make the column optional,” asked Kamala (17), a nursing student.
“We are laughed at and abused in school by teachers and other students. I have asked my mother so many times who my father is. She tells me that she is my amma and appaji (father),” she added in between her tears. The resilience of these children to withstand hardships, pain and suffering is remarkable and so is their determination to bring in a change and end social evils like Devadasi and child marriage, through education, awareness and empowerment.
Many voluntary organisations, such as Amma in Belagavi, Sneha in Koppal and Ballari, Jagrut in Vijayapura and Chaitanya in Bagalkot, have been working for advocacy and empowerment of former Devadasis and are also involved in imparting education, skill training and civic responsibilities to their daughters aged between 12 and 18 years through kishori sanghas for the last four years.
Each sangha has close to 600 girls. “These girls are highly susceptible to sexual abuse by men. Through life skills, we are helping them to say no to any such advances and report any coercion to authorities through Childline 1098 and district child protection units,” said Vasudev Sharma of Child Rights Trust.
(Names of daughters of former Devadasis have been changed to protect identity)