Devadasis - Ancient to Modern

Though their condition was slightly better than in later times, the women during Vedic age were not generally educated and were married off early. It was the Buddha, who really liberated women. But Manu degraded women and the Shudras further to tide their outflow to Buddhism. When Untouchability was started, after sixth century CE, Dalit women, being originally Buddhists, were degraded still more. The Buddhist nuns who were in Buddhist temples when these temples were usurped for Brahminical use, were degraded to Devadasis. Now they are neither nuns nor mere artists, they are married to god, prohibited to marry human beings, and are meant to be sexual partners of Bhudevas and Bhuswamis without any obligations and are thrust into cheap prostitution to rot and die. Thus they have triple bond of slavery, of being a Hindu woman, being a Dalit and being a Devadasi. The system came about around 1000 CE, during Rajput age, the Dark Age of India and has no roots in ancient foreign or Indian culture. All this is explained with measures to abolish the system.

K. Jamanadas, an Ambedkarite and a retired Surgeon, being FRCS and a Graduate in Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archeology, was on Board of Studies in History in Nagpur University for six years. He is an author of books like Tirupati Balaji was a Buddhist Shrine, Decline and Fall of Buddhism A Tragedy in Ancient India, Maratha Revolt Against Brahminism in 21st Century, and many articles. Some of his writings are www.ambedkar.org .

About five years back, one of my articles, titled as "The Rise and Fall of Buddhist Nuns", was published in the Journal of World Federation of Buddhists from Thailand. Some of my friends wished me to elaborate the subject into a book. The result is this book. As the subject matter comes under the broad category of 'Effects of Fall of Buddhism', in a way, it is the continuation of my first book 'Tirupati Balaji was a Buddhist Shrine' (1991), where I have shown, for the first time, that Tirumala, the famous Vaishnava shrine of South India, was a Buddhist Centre of the past and that it was taken over by Brahmins for Brahminic use during the general decline of Buddhism, and another one 'Decline and Fall of Buddhism A Tragedy in Ancient India' (2004), wherein I have discussed the Effects - rather than the causes- of Decline and Fall of Buddhism on the culture of India and in fact, how all the present day ills of India are all due to this tragedy.

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