It was painful to read the story of a four year old girl from Tamil Nadu in a magazine recently. This unfortunate girl child who had just stepped into her childhood was a ‘sacrifice child'. The girl was married to just imagine a temple and would become a ‘Devdasi'. This child was supposed to serve priests, high caste Hindus and involve herself in temple related activities and cleaning etc. of the temple. The girl had to live in temple premises away from her home and could never dream of going to a school and when she grows could never marry. This girl's sacrifice was important for the welfare of the entire community as her sacrifice was supposed to please goddess. Ill luck and calamities would engulf the family and the entire community if the ‘sacrificial girl' moved out of her assignment. This sacrificial girl child is what is known as a ‘Devdasi'.
And unfortunately that is not the end of the tale. The womanhood and feminity of this Devdasi is lost serving the elite and high caste Hindus who continuously misuse her. As a Devdasi is married to a temple, she cannot marry anyone though she can live with any man without a ‘legal' marriage, eventually she ends up being a homeless woman who is used as a sex worker. What a torture to endure and what a pain to bear and all this to serve religion - religion which is supposed to give you internal and external peace;
But yes, all this does not make a headline. It is a cruel practice which has a religious sanction and is going on non stop for ages. ‘Sati', ‘Untouchability', and forced head shave of Hindu widows are other cruel practise that have a religious sanction and are supposed to please gods and goddesses. When British were controlling India strict legislations were passed against a few such practices but still in most parts of India there is a continuing trend of torturing women and weak sections of the society using religion as a tool. But surprisingly nothing gets highlighted in the media. On the contrary if a Muslim man slaps his wife headlines are flashed on every news channel. When these innocent children are being made to taste the dust of temples, nobody talks about ‘extremism' ‘fundamentalism' or ‘orthodoxy'. But even if it is an insignificant matter involving Muslims, women activities take out protest marches, newspapers are loaded with anti Islamic and anti-Muslim stuff. The anti Islamic propaganda has earned many otherwise mediocre writers laurels including Nobel Prizes.
Islam is a shelter for the oppressed especially women but the media is projecting it as anti women. As All wills contrary, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the west, a society which is supposed to have liberated women but guess who are felling into the fold of Islam in astonishing numbers. The liberated independent western women who are increasingly disgusted with the pseudo liberal west that has choked women. Islam is there for the oppressed you may or may not make a news item out of it Beware;