Abstract

In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:When the Devi Is Your Husband: Sacred Marriage and Sexual Economy in South India Luanda Ramberg For the Dalit ("outcaste") women that my research in the South Indian state of Karnataka has focused on, marriage is not to men but to a devi (goddess). When they are "given," or dedicated by their families, to the devi Yellamma, they become her wives. By virtue of this dedication they become responsible for the worship (seva) of Yellamma; they become her priests (pujaris). In turn, Yellamma provides for them. As several dedicated women put it to me, "She is my husband, she takes care [of me]." As wives of Yellamma, they embody her presence in the towns and villages where they live and are entitled to bestow blessings and ask for fruits of the harvest in her name. For a devotee of Yellamma to fail to make offerings to a jogati (as they most commonly refer to themselves), who comes to the devotee's house or assists them in carrying out a ritual, is to risk the wrath of a devi whose power is renowned in the region. In short, the dedication of girls to the devi Yellamma initiates a network of exchange relations, mutual obligations, and forms of care that flow among Dalit dedicated women, dominant caste devotees of the devi, and the devi herself.1 Jogatis, or devadasis, as they are also called, consider themselves to be married but they are aware that this is not necessarily how they are seen. In an effort to end a practice widely understood to be exploitative of Dalit women, the government of Karnataka passed a law banning dedications Feminist Studies37, no. 1 (Spring 2011). © 2011 by Lucinda Ramberg 28 Lucinda Ramberg 29 Kamlabai, a Yellamma pujari,drinking tea. Photo by Brett Isis Fisher. in 1982. Anxious attention to devadasis, however, is not new. This Kar nataka law is but one of the more recent legislative acts in over one hundred years of reform begun in the colonial era. Devadasi ("servant of the deity") is a pan-Indian Sanskrit term used to refer to women dedi cated to deities in a variety of regionally distinct practices, some of which date back to the ninth century c.e. It is the distinctive sexuality of devada sis that has provoked several generations of reformers. Having married a diety, devadasis do not take other husbands but may have patrons, work in brothels, or remain celibate. In contemporary Karnataka, this illicit sexuality has attracted the attention of feminist, anticaste, and public health activists. As the result of their campaigns and the government's 30 LucindaRamberg ban, all the rites belonging to jogatis have been criminalized, and they are enjoined to cut their ties to the devi, marry in the conventional way, and become "good" women. In this article I explore what it means to be given to Yellamma, to be tied to her, and the economy of "auspiciousness" that is transacted through her. "Auspiciousness," in this context, is used to describe persons, places, or times that are understood to contain and transmit fertility, fecundity, and well-being in all its forms. I also consider how the modern dichotomy between the wife and the prostitute has been produced in India in part through the recasting of devadasis as merely prostitutes, sexual commodities in an alienating and exploitative market. In contrast to this reformist framing of dedicated women, I describe how jogatis explain what it means to be "given" to Yellamma. In particular, I turn to theories of the gift to think about what forms of value the dedication of daughters as jogatis produces. Building on the insights of feminist anthropology, I pose marriage as a means of producing value in and through gendered persons and argue that this contemporary practice of sacred marriage is a means for Dalits to increase the value of daughters.2 It is also, and not inciden tally, a way of producing daughters as sons entitled to inherit land and obligated to support their families. Specifically, I propose that the practice of devadasi dedication constitutes a sexual economy distinct from the sexual economy underwriting conventional marriage. Daughters are given, whether to mortal husbands or to the...