Editing Devadasi (section)

===Natavalollu===
A community of Karnataka living in [[Andhra Pradesh]], the ''Natavalollu'' were are also known as ''Nattuvaru'', ''Bogam'', ''Bhogam'', and ''Kalavanthulu''.

It was customary in the [[Krishna district]] of [[Tenali]] for each family to give one girl to the Devadasi system. These dancers were known as ''Devadasis''. As part of a social reform, a written agreement was made to formally end the practice.

''Ādapāpas'' were female attendants to the ladies of the families of [[Zamindar]]s. Ādapāpas were not allowed to marry. In some places such as the Krishna and [[Godāvari]] districts, Ādapāpas were known as ''Khasa'' or ''Khasavandlu''.<ref name="google">{{cite book|last=Thurston|first=Edgar|title=Castes and Tribes of Southern India |volume=I  |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6gm2K6VMwAC&pg=PT103|year=1909|publisher=Library of Alexandria|isbn=978-1-4655-8236-2|page=103}}</ref>

''Natavalollu''/''Kalawants'' were a community that was distributed throughout the state of [[Andhra Pradesh]]. They were also referred to as ''Devadasi'', ''Bogamvallu'', ''Ganikulu'', and ''Sani''. ''Kalavantulu'' means one who is engaged in art.<ref name="google3">{{cite book|title=India's Communities|last1=Singh |first1=K. S.|author2=Anthropological Survey of India|date=1998|volume=5|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=9780195633542|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g9MVAQAAMAAJ|access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref> [[Davesh Soneji]] writes that, "By the early twenty-first century, large numbers of women in the Kalavanthulu community had converted to Christianity, because this promised them a stable monthly income as members of the new rehabilitation programs of these missions."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Eo81ouc5OgQC&pg=PA260|title=Unfinished Gestures: Devadasis, Memory, and Modernity in South India|last=Soneji|first=Davesh|date=2012|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-76809-0}}</ref>

==== Mahari Devadasi of Odisha ====
In the eastern state of [[Odisha]] Devadasis were known colloquially as [[Mahari dance|Maharis]] of the [[Jagannath Temple (Puri)|Jagannath temple complex]]. The term ''Devadasi'' referred to the women who danced inside the temple. Devadasi, or mahari, means "those great women who can control natural human impulses, their five senses and can submit themselves completely to God (Vachaspati)". Mahari is a contraction of ''Mahan Nari'', translating to, "the woman belonging to God". [[Caitanya Mahaprabhu|Chaitanya]] had defined Devadasis as ''Sebayatas'' who served God through dance and music. [[Pankaj Charan Das]], the oldest guru of [[Odissi]] classical dance and who comes from a Mahari family, defines Mahari as ''Maha Ripu-Ari'', one who conquers the six main ripus – enemies.<ref name="MHO">{{cite web|url=http://www.ukhap.nic.in/homepages/Appan/maharis.html|title=The Sacred & the Profane – The Conference &#124; Mahari of Odisha|access-date=8 January 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930103507/http://www.ukhap.nic.in/homepages/Appan/maharis.html|archive-date=30 September 2007|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Unlike other parts of India, the Odia Mahari Devadasis were never sexually liberal and were expected to remain celibate upon becoming Devadasis. However, there are records of Odia Mahari Devadasi having relationships and children. It is said that the daughters of the Maharis of the Jagannath temple took to other professions such as nursing in the mid-20th century due to stigma attached to their inherent profession, as dance was frowned up during the colonial era.

The 1956 Orissa Gazette lists nine Devadasis and eleven temple musicians. By 1980, only four Devadasis were left – Harapriya, Kokilaprabha, Parashmani, and [[Sashimani|Shashimani]]. By 1998, only Shashimani and Parashmani were still alive. The daily ritualistic dance had stopped, although Shashimani and Parashmani served in a few of the yearly temple rituals such as ''Nabakalebara'', ''Nanda Utsava'', and ''Duara Paka'' during ''Bahuda Jatra''.<ref name="MHO"/> The last of the Devadasis, Shashimani, died on 19 March 2015, at the age of 92.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/24/world/asia/sashimani-devi-last-of-indias-jagannath-temple-ritual-dancers-dies-at-92.html?_r=0|title = Sashimani Devi, Last of India's Jagannath Temple Dancers, Dies at 92|date = 23 March 2015|website = The New York Times|last = Barry|first = Ellen}}</ref>

====Yellamma Cult of Karnataka in South India====
In the southern Indian state of Karnataka the Devadasi system was practiced for over 10 centuries. Chief among them was the [[Yellamma]] cult.<ref name="YM">{{cite web|url=http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/people/yellamma/yellamma.htm|website=Kamat.com|title=The Yellamma Cult of India|access-date=8 January 2017}}</ref>

There are many stories about the origin of the Yellamma cult. The most popular story indicates that Renuka was the daughter of a [[Brahmin]], who married the sage [[Jamadagni]], and was the mother of five sons. She used to bring water from the [[Malaprabha]] river for the sage's worship and rituals. One day at the river she saw a group of youths engaged in water sports and forgot to return home in time for her husband's worship and rituals, which made Jamadagni question her chastity. He ordered their sons one by one to punish their mother, but four of them refused on one pretext or the other. The sage cursed them to become [[eunuchs]] and had Renuka beheaded by his fifth son, [[Parashurama]]. To everybody's astonishment, Renuka's head multiplied by tens and hundreds and moved to different regions. This miracle inspired her four eunuch sons as well as others to become her followers and worship her head.<ref name="YMSlaves">[http://cpamedia.com/culture/slave_girls_yellama/ "Yellamma Slaves"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070328144857/http://www.cpamedia.com/culture/slave_girls_yellama/ |date=28 March 2007 }}</ref>{{fcn|date=May 2024}}