While the term may not be very familiar to the Indian readers but there is something that history tells us and we have chosen to ignore it. The reason this has been happening is that there is too much noise around the topic, and since the Mughal era and the brutal raj have altered the Indian sociological structure to the very core, it has been difficult to go back to the old ways or the older era, so to speak. But some things need to be discussed even if they are uncomfortable to the Western world, and they may act like a complete wacko, they also may go offensive to the Indians, but things need to see the light of day because they happened, and there is ample evidence to prove that.
As the term may have suggested to us, the sacred prostitution is one of the terms that has been used historically to describe and justify the nudity and promiscuous nature of a man in the man’s world. This is something that has been happening from time immemorial, but no one seems to be comfortable enough to talk about it. Let’s get back to the system from where it started, and how it ended up being an integral part of Indian culture, even when it was not, and how patriarchy around the world works in a similar way to keep it alive.
As
interesting as it gets, there was research done in Yale College’s department of
psychology where monkeys were taught how to use fiat money, while the male
monkeys worked and completed the task given to them by the lab doctors or
scientists. They could use the fiat money to buy anything they wished to just
like humans do in the real world, so in the absence of religion or any moral
code of conduct [1],
the female monkeys took the easy route of taking the token’s and accepting to
have coitus with their male counterpart, which exactly sounds like the frugal
form of prostitution or may be a decent transaction without feeling guilty.
While the results of the above experiments may
shock a lot of people and give nightmares to some, it's evident that prostitution
is a very old form of business anyone could make, so the profession goes as old
as time and civilization itself. It is not just a theory now, with the results
of this research, it's an axiom.
The Vedic age
The practice of nobility came
back with a modification, anyhow it would be dishonesty and hypocrisy to say
that prostitution did not exist before the arrival of Mughals we get
the written evidence of Ganika in various books like the arthashatra of
Chanakya, Kamasutra by vatsyayana here is an extract from a very old
research paper [2]
An enquiry into the exact
status of such women shows that there was conceptually a broad distinction
between a ganika (courtesan) and a vesya (prostitute), though in later times
this difference disappeared. The Kamasutra of Vatsyayana clearly states (1.3.17.18)
that a prostitute endowed with good character and appearance, having risen in
status by grasping the 64 arts, attains the title of ganika and secures a place
in society. She is revered by the king and approached by people desirous of
learning the arts.
What these 64 arts were is
difficult to ascertain, since the topic is dealt with differently at two
different places in the Kamasutra. Thus, in the first adhikarana (1.3.15) are
given arts such as music, dance, instrumental music, etc. In the second adhikarana
(I1.2.1-6), 6subdivisionsns of the sexual union are given..
Further in
the article, it is also said how they were respected and educated, which means
that the profile to be a Ganika was chosen by the women, and she was probably
not forced into the profession, which means that it was an ethical business.
In the Sanskrit plays Carudatta by Bhasa and
Mrcchakatika by Sadraka, Vasantasena is shown as a courtesan (ganika). In the
Mrcchakatika (Act IV), she is shown speaking in Sanskrit with Maitreya, the vidusakaa. This is against the norms of language for female characters in
Sanskrit drama, who are generally expected to use Prakrit. But since Vasantasena was a
ganika, she was expected to carry on conversation in Sanskrit with cultured
people. It is worth noting that at the end of the play, Mrcchakatika,
Vasantasena receives the title of kulavadhi from her kin.g
It is also
important to mention that Kamasutra also talks about the revenue that has to be
collected as tax from the ganikas, vaishayas, which means they were also
important and incident in society, unlike the terms today.
Also, there
is another excerpt from the same paper which shows how women, girls, and
daughters were respected in the society.ty.
Along with the worship of the paduka, worship of girls (kumari) was
also enjoined (ibid . VI.89.45). ;
There are umpteen numbers of such examples which show that the Vedic age was much better for women with regard to
respect and social respect bestowed upon them. While the textbooks shy away
from discussing the topic with us, there is a lot that can be uncovered and
discussed by making a comparative study of the parallels of how women were
treated in the Vedic and Mughal eras, another day, and another topic to discuss.
The Mughal era
While the Quran has given a dictate in its verse 24:33, which says that no slave
girl can be compelled to be a prostitute, and hence the doctrine of mut’ah Nikah
came into existence. Also while
Forcing someone into the
profession is a sin, but the act in itself is not considered a sin according
to some scholars who know Islam well [3].
The concept of mut’ah is supposed to have come into existence at the time of
the Noble Prophet [4].
Many of the scholars declared it illegal, as there were chances of the women
being forced into prostitution with this practice, but this was never truly
abolished in the world of Middle East. It is to date a menace that the governments
of various countries have been trying to abolish the practice.
The middle east tough has banned
this practice on the paper but it persists in the name of kafala[5]
system, now that was developed in the later 1960’s till then the western world
had abolished the slavery system prevalent in their areas but they started to
preach that its wrong to all the other nations and middle east was the last to
give up. But the practice never stopped fully news of women being used as sex
slaves keeps coming now and then[6].
And this same mentality comes into play when the terrorists play it out in action. There is a reason for this
mentality of slave and sex slave. It's just a question to ponder if this is
happening under so much international pressure that the Middle East is not
yielding to the HRC demands, how is it possible that they behaved saintly when
the pressure was not on them? It's also important to note that earlier, they were
also in a ritual position of power from a sociological point of view.
This practice was handed down by
the Mughals to the elite class of India, which wanted to feel royal and wanted
the public to perceive them as the new nobility. The concept of Sanskritization
is not alien to us now, so we know the name; we might as well use it. But in a generic term, the real phenomenon is emulating what the elite class wants to
do; it's all in the details. While the term bacchabazzi( [7])()
might ring a bell in the regular readers, it’s a social phenomenon in the
golden crescent where the drugs business flourishes, this is nothing but a
pompous show of money and power where one can afford to keep a male consort
with him who could be sodomised and sexually exploited from time to time, India
forgot this as it was not very lucrative but kept the concept of tawaif khana’s
and kothas where the rich nobility would go to have what we now know as
“fun”. It would be a mockery to the science of historiography if we try to deny
the fact, as the practice is still prevalent in many parts of society, and we
all know practices evolve; they don’t just pop up out of the blue.
The British era (read brutal)
While the Mughals were as brutal
as they were and there is a problem with the Indian historiography that they
shy away from discussing about the wrong doing of the Mughals and the masters
of that time, this changes with the brutal era of britisher’s they were inhuman but they took pride in their ways, they always thought that
what they are doing is either bestowed upon them by the god living in the
heavens or they are superior and hence what they do is always right. In a short
note, it was a mentality and an era of might is right.
We get historical records of what
atrocities were committed by the brutal Raj on the women of that time. The
denigrating social status of women in Indian society already took a hit in the
Mughal era, but when the brutal Raj took over, it further declined and
worsened. Luckily enough, since the Raj was a functioning government, there
is a lot of paperwork that can be found on the matter.
For example, how the brutish raj drafted the contagious disease act of 1864 to clamp down on all the legal/illegal prostitution work going on in their areas and then in the garb of this made sure that the beautiful women are shifted to the barracks for the carnal pleasure of the soldiers of their troops here is an excerpt from an article pulled from the archive.s
The intention of this
Act was not to prevent vice and immorality amongst its soldiers, but rather
to denigrate the body of the prostitute as a receptacle of all that was filthy
and impure. Under this Act and the Cantonment Rules, the British and other
European soldiers in India were not only permitted but promoted to hold native
young and good-looking girls as prostitutes for their carnal pleasure [8]
While a whole
new system was being carved out and made legal, so the barracks and the troop
soldiers of the brutal army could get “services” from these women of their
choice. Oftethere were soldiers in their civil dresses roaming in the market
and catching the girls of a smaller age, around 15 to 1,8, and sometimes even small, who were 14, kidnapped and brutally assaulted and made to fulfill their master's wishes[9].
There were a few selected to serve only the “white sahebs”. Often, the places where they were living or
made to reside were referred to as chaklas, a term which has stuck with
Indian society since then. Here is an excerpt from the same article.
These women were allowed to
consort with British soldiers only, and were registered by the Cantonment
Magistrate, and tickets of licence were given to them[10]
The atrocities don’t just stop there yet, the cantonment has a prison
hospital or the lock hospital as they call it and where these women were
subjected to indecent examination, a woman was appointed at the chakla
to make sure women’s stay there she was referred to as mahadarni, she
was also the one who was responsible for recruiting new girls or say kidnapping
them. The women were subjected to many indignities and discriminations. Some of
the most beautiful ones were reserved for the white sahibs, while the others
who were not lucky had to provide their “services” to the normal troop, which
mainly consisted of Indian men.
That is the
inception of the brothel system which is now working in the south Asian
subcontineow, same goes for Pakistan and Bangladesh, despite of having a
Muslim majority population and prostitution being banned in Islam the brothels
still function in these Muslim dominated places, because it was a colonial
legacy and one dare not question the white sahibs.
Cantonment
memorandum 21A
While the
memorandum is not worth remembering but the readers seem to forget them hence
there is a strong need to remind the rulers and the people of the nation about
it Josephine e butler’s “the queen’s daughter” is a brief read which bring
about a detailed description of the atrocities committed on the native women of
India where girls as young as 6 were taken by the British army as officers as
their mistress while a girl of same age probably his daughter would have been
playing with dolls the other girl was getting the bed of the officer warm,
which is such a shame and then we have people who defend the British raj, id
rather say they read history thoroughly.
While the
infamous cantonment memoradom act and its porvisions made it extreamly easy to
make any girl work as a prostitute, weather she was in jail or a Begger or any
other profession the handler or the mahaldarni was given arbitrary power
to appoint these girls by hook or by cross as the members of the chakla, some sold their daughters because they coudnt
feed them, some got women to love them and sold them and some were brutal
enough to kidnap and sell girls as small as 6 years of age to the mahaldarni
the brutal saga doesn’t just end here there are instances recorded by miss
butler where she had to rescue a women who was a british army officier’s wife
ofcourse the officer was an Indian and when she ran away with another guy a
muslim handler bought her and made her his sex slave, later to be found by a mahaldarni
and sold to the cantonment hospital for 50 rupees.
Countless
such instances are recorded in history. Maybe this is how human trafficking
started in India: the government institutionalised it. It became an easy way to earn
money, and when the system stopped, the people had caught the habit of getting
free forced sex, a place to stick their genitalia in exchange for money, and
then started the trafficking racket, which to this day operates. While the whole
history of how churches were also involved in this has been removed and erased from
the pages of history. A place where nuns are even today subjected to violence
and assault[11],
one can just wonder what the history would have been if there had been no one to
question the intentions of priests and popes. This was practiced by the elite
of the British, who would then pay and use these nuns to their wish and will. This
culture was transferred to India, and when they saw the system of temple
priestesses, they were in awe at how a woman could be a priestess and hence, in a
collaborative effort with the Indian priest, they made a system called devadasi
and replicated it in Indian temples.
While it is hard to say that the immoral conduct was brought here by the
foreign power, as stated at the start of the article, there is research to
prove that prostitution has been around as long as civilization has existed.
It’s also true that some horrible things were happening in India, but others were imported and imposed by the foreign forces. We should be
under no impression that the Britishers were always benign to the natives; they
were, in fact, brutal to them.
History teaches us that those who don’t learn from history are a
part of it. To deny these facts would be a hypocritical stance to take. If the
brutes did some good, they certainly have done some bad as well, and we must not
shy away from making those statements in open., It's time we take political
correctness and throw it out of the window and start finding and blaming the Britishers
for all the wrongs they have done in India.
[1] M Keith Chen, Venkat
Lakshminarayanan, and Laurie Santos, “The Evolution of Our Preferences:
Evidence from Capuchin-Monkey Trading Behavior,” n.d.
[2] Sindhu S. Dange, The
Institutions of Ganika and Devadasi from Ancient to Medieval Times (Sangeet
Natak Akademi, New Delhi, 1990), http://archive.org/details/dli.ministry.14853.
[3] “‘Prostitution Is
Not a Sin.,’” accessed May 26, 2024,
https://correspondents.org/en/2014/04/24/prostitution-is-not-a-sin/.
[4] “Mut’ah | Temporary,
Islamic, Contractual | Britannica,” accessed May 26, 2024,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/mutah.
[5] “What Is the Kafala
System?” Council on Foreign Relations, accessed May 27, 2024,
https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/what-kafala-system.
[6] Nitin B, “Sold as
Slaves, Tortured in the Middle East: The Human Trafficking Nexus in Hyderabad,”
The News Minute, September 11, 2018,
https://www.thenewsminute.com/delve/sold-slaves-tortured-middle-east-human-trafficking-nexus-hyderabad-88165.
[7] Ranganatha Sharma,
“The Truth behind Mughal King Babur, His Secret Male Lover and Babri Masjid,” PGurus
(blog), July 15, 2017,
https://www.pgurus.com/the-truth-behind-mughal-king-babur-and-babri-masjid/.
[8] “Prostitution in
Colonial India - Mainstream Weekly,” accessed May 25, 2024,
https://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article2142.html.
[9] Elizabeth W Andrew
and Katharine C Bushnell, “THE QUEENS DAUGHTERS IN INDIA,” n.d.
[10] libd “Prostitution
in Colonial India - Mainstream Weekly.”
[11] “Pope Admits Clerical Abuse of Nuns Including Sexual Slavery,” February 5,
2019, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47134033.
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