Current Reasons For Dedication in The Yellamma Cult
The followers of Yellamma, who are mostly poor, and illiterate, take a vow to dedicate themselves, their spouses, or their children in the service of Goddess Yellamma when they are unable to face the hardships of life. The typical situations include life-threatening diseases, infertility, and dire financial troubles. These are the people who are primarily responsible for propagating Goddess Yellamma's virtues and achievements and glorify the Goddess.
Even though the majority of the girls dedicated in the past few years or decades come from families with no tradition of devadasis, all of them come from communities with a strong history of the practice. For example, a village named Yellampura in Karnataka, 95 percent of households of Holers have practicing devadasis, which is the highest percentage in the village, followed by Madars.
The system has an obvious economic basis. The sanctions provided by social custom and apparently by religion, combined with economic pressures, have pushed girls from poor families into becoming the wives of a deity. The three factors (religious, social, and economic) are interlinked.
In a 1993 study, Asha Ramesh found that:
Dedication to the Goddess or God was justified on the following grounds:
(a) If the parents were childless, they vowed to dedicate their first child if it happened to be girl.
(b) If there were no sons in the family, the girl child was dedicated and could not marry as she becomes a 'son' for the family (earning the family’s livelihood).
Yet another economic reason contributed to the dedications. If the girl's family had some property, the family ensured that it stayed within the family by turning the girl into 'son' by dedicating her.
Read more about this topic: Devadasi
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