Given to the Goddess: South Indian Devadasis and the Sexuality of Religion

by Lucinda Ramberg

Who and what are marriage and sex for? Whose practices and which ways of talking to god can count as religion? Lucinda Ramberg considers these questions based upon two years of ethnographic research on an ongoing South Indian practice of dedication in which girls, and sometimes boys, are married to a goddess. Called devadasis , or jogatis , those dedicated become female and male women who conduct the rites of the goddess outside the walls of her main temple and transact in sex outside the bounds of conjugal matrimony. Marriage to the goddess, as well as the rites that the dedication ceremony authorizes jogatis to perform, have long been seen as illegitimate and criminalized. Kinship with the goddess is productive for the families who dedicate their children, Ramberg argues, and yet it cannot conform to modern conceptions of gender, family, or religion. This nonconformity, she suggests, speaks to the limitations of modern categories, as well as to the possibilities of relations—between and among humans and deities—that exceed such categories.

Genres: Religion, India, Anthropology

296 pages, Hardcover

First published August 27, 2014

Reviews

[Fatima · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean YEAH, this is the kind of book I wish I could write

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

The study critiques how modern state reforms and feminist activism have criminalized devadasi rituals and sought to sever women’s ties to the goddess, re-inscribing their identities through normative frameworks of gender and legality. Ramberg contends these interventions obscure the relational, spiritual, and socio-economic complexities of the devadasi system and often silence the women’s voices, thereby perpetuating new forms of dispossession.

Given to the Goddess is lauded for its theoretical rigor and rich ethnographic detail, bridging anthropology, feminist, queer, and religious studies to produce a nuanced understanding of how sexuality and religiosity intersect in South India. Ramberg’s work is essential reading for those interested in kinship, gender, sexuality, and religion beyond Western normativities, offering a vital paradigm for studying stigmatized religious practices and embodied faith. Ramberg’s book elevates the devadasi tradition beyond stereotypes, illuminating how these women live spiritually charged lives that challenge modern categorization and open new perspectives on religion, sexuality, and political power in India.

[Ramya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mindblowing to know of Dalit customs of dedication of girls and boys to a Goddess - it’s parallels to devadasis maybe even predating devadasis, the overlay of brahmanic concepts on Dravidian concepts of kinship, the fluidity of gender in these new roles w/o change of sex per se, Shaktism w/ Bhakti - all still being practiced but slowly dying as all “traditions” change w/ the Kaalaa.

[Zoila Tapia · Rating 5 out of 5]

la millor etnografia que he llegit fins el moment. tracta problemàtiques centrals a la india des del punt central de les Devadasi, les formes socials i pràctiques religioses.
molt recomanable!!
interessant, ben escrit i agradable de llegir

[Rye · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ☆: Compelling work focused on the intersections of kinship, religion, and sexuality.

[Akhil Kang · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful ethnography, fantastic book to read about devadasis, sexuality of religion. I keep going back to it.

[Dan Laurin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really great ethnography, not only for anthropology students or scholars of South Asian gender and religious studies. Ramberg states a lot of interesting and original views on how to view "symbolic" exchanges such as being married to a deity, as an actual marriage, something that puts the relationship of the devadasi to the goddess she is dedicated to, in perspective. It's a really good ethnography that's not at all too hard to read.