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Bangalore Nagarathnammal

October this year was the 80th anniversary of the first serious attempt at seeking a ban on the devadasi system. The list of bills and resolutions to be debated in November in the Madras Legislative Council included one from Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy (the daughter of a devadasi herself) asking the Government to end the practice of dedicating women to temples. The first to oppose the resolution were the devadasis themselves.

Bangalore Nagarathnamma and other devadasis formed the Association of the Devadasis of Madras Presidency on November 3, 1927. Its office was at Murugappan Street, where Jeevaratnammal, the oldest devadasi of Madras, lived at the time. She was elected President; the secretary was Doraikannammal. The Association sent a letter to the Law Member, Sir C.P. Ramaswami Ayyar protesting against the legislation.

At his request, this was expanded into a full-fledged “Memorial of the Devadasis of Madras Presidency”, a document of more than ten pages.

They met Sir C.P. on November 11 in Fort St. George and presented him their petition. They then went ahead and organised meetings of devadasis in various towns in the Presidency, at which the women passed resolutions against the proposed legislation and sent them to Government. But the move lost steam by February 1928. Pressure from the men proved too much and the less successful devadasis were all for the legislation.

Meanwhile, the Council had passed the resolution on November 6, but predictably Government did nothing; it was reluctant to tamper with what was a Hindu tradition.

In 1928, Dr. Reddy revived the matter, demanding an amendment to the HR&CE Act, whereby the devadasis were to be given whatever land or income was theirs by virtue of their performances in temples and they were, in turn, to be relieved from the duty of dancing at these venues. This became Act V of 1929. Not surprisingly, the implementation was one-sided; the devadasis were thrown out of the temples, but never got compensation. Many died in penury. Some were rescued by Dr. Reddy herself and rehabilitated in her Avvai Home.

With that, dance vanished from the temples but continued to be performed in the homes of the rich – and began to be viewed as something not fit to be seen in public. To change this perception, the Music Academy in 1931/32 held the first public dance performance for a secular audience, but failed to make its point. Then, 75 years ago, the Rajah of Bobbili, on becoming the Premier of Madras, was felicitated with a nautch performance by Gaddibhukta Sitaramamma.

Shortly thereafter, M. A. Muthiah Chettiar was treated by his friends to a nautch performance at Chettinad Palace on his becoming president of the Madras Corporation. Dr. Reddy in a letter to The Hindu demanded that legislation be brought in to ban dance itself. E. Krishna Iyer, then a powerful member of the Academy, protested. And S. Sathyamurti, who strongly opposed any legislation against the dance, sent a letter to the Academy urging it to take up the “Nautch question” for debate at its 1932 conference. The Academy did so on December 28. The dance was renamed “Bharata Natyam” and it was decided to showcase the art to the public. This was done with a series of performances in 1933. This encouraged more and more women from outside the traditional community to take to dance. Eventually, Dr. Reddy herself saw the merits of this move.

On November 26, 60 years ago, the Madras Devadasi Prevention of Dedication Bill was passed. By then, the devadasi system was on the wane with almost all the talented women of the community having retired. Some became dance tutors to women from other communities. Dr. P. Subbaroyan piloted the Bill that specifically outlawed dancing in temples and also performing the “Kumbharati”, the task assigned to the devadasi at the end of the worship. And so, devadasi service to temples came to an end – but their dance form remains, now performed all over India and abroad.

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