DEVADASI, POST-TRUTH AND ‘SIMULACRA’: DECONSTRUCTING THE POETICS AND POLITICS OF REPRESENTATION OF DEVADASI TRADITION IN SELECT INDIAN NARRATIVES

Abstract

The narratives around devadasi are historically constructed to glorify the dedication of young girls as dancers to various temples across India. Traditionally, a devadasi assumed a pivotal role in executing significant rites and festivities within temple precincts, thereby representing an indispensable contributor to the cultural milieu inherent to these sacred edifices. This side of the devadasi legacy is quite popular and known even in the present times, but a discreet silence prevails about the flip side of this picture, a side that is characterised by systemic oppression, exploitation, and enduring bondage, constituting a narrative often hushed up. The present paper investigates the profoundly complex and concealed aspects of the devadasi tradition through a study of narratives by Gogu Shyamala, William Darlymple and Sudha Murthy using a post-truth lens and Baudrillard’s ‘simulacra’ to deconstruct the coordinated distortion/asymmetry of/in knowledge/reality of devadasi.

Keywords

• devadasi
• jogini
• hegemony
• oppression
• post-truth
• simulacra