Ancient Indian Temple Dancers

Subashini Pathmanathan

Performing and practising dance in Indian Hindu temples was a part of Indian life. Historical evidence and accounts of numerous foreign travellers who visited India in various periods has given valuable information regarding the practice of dance in temples. The practice of devadasis dancing started in temples in India mainly to entertain the deity of the temples.

The dancing in the temples started from time immemorial. According to Padma puranam which was believed to have been written in the 4th century A.D., anyone who offers a beautiful woman to dance will go to heaven.

Culture

Assam devadasis were known as Natis

The Chola period was considered as the golden era of Tamil culture and Tamil literature. The Chola kings made tremendous contribution for the development of art and culture. They employed dancing girls in the temples to serve in the temple rituals, poojas and festivals. A French traveller named Travenier who visited India during the 17th century said courtesans bought young slaves to whom they taught dance and music. The girls were between the age of 11 and 12 years. Their mistresses sent them to the temples with the belief that it would bring fortune.

In the 13th century Marco Polo who visited India wrote that for the male and female idols the people offered their daughters to dance and sing to cheer the idols. The Portuguese traveller Domingo Paes, who visited India in the 16th century, said in temples they fed the idols with food while women danced.

In the 17th century Fray Marique wrote about the car festival of the Durga pooja of West Bengal where the dancers danced in front of the car. The famous historian Ferista indicates that when Sultan Alauddin Bahmani conquered certain parts of Karnataka he also captured certain temple dancers.

Reports

One writer had written during the period of temple festivals in north India that girls danced in temples. One of the reports of Madras Music Academy indicated that daily worship of the temples was performed with Natyam.

In Orissa devadasis were known as Maharis attached to Vaishnava and Saiva temples. In Tamil Nadu temple dancers danced in Saiva and Vaishnava temples with the same enthusiasm. For instance in Sri Rangam and in Rameshwaram temples we can find such evidence.

Assam devadasis were known as Natis. In Maharashtra, dancing girls were known as Murlis. In Tamil Nadu temple dancers and devadasis were called by several names like devaradiyarkal, thaliyeyalallar and other names.

There is evidence that many temple dancers danced in the festival processions. For instance, during the Tirupathi car festivals dance girls danced in front of the car. The girls were selected from the crowd by the Brahmins. The temples generally maintained the records of the numbers of the dancers of the temples. The evidence revealed that the Suchindram temple in Kerala had 72 dancers attached to the temple.

And the temple followed many customs practised in Tamil Nadu. According to Abbe Ducois the 19th century scholar, every temple must have had a minimum eight to 12 dancing girls. Yet another writer wrote that some large temples like Kanchipuram had more than one hundred dancing girls. Abbde Dubois mentioned that singing and dancing twice a day in the temple were important function of the temples.

In some temples the best dancers were selected to dance before the chief idol of the temple. Later this function had become a hereditary right of the dancers.

The Godwari district report provided that the funeral pyre of each dancer was lighted with the fire brought from the temple. Legally dance was banned in temples during the British era in India. But this tradition was followed and practised in Pudukkatai. Some devadasis danced till old age.

One Devadasi named Kamakshi of Tanjore danced till she turned 75. Hence the bond between the dancers and temples was the integral part and culture of Indian society.