Sex Workers Dance for Goddess

[Guest guest]

KURAIL(M.P.),APRIL 9: Breaking tradition, hundreds of sex workers

danced at a temple fair in the village of Kurail in Madhya Pradesh

offering thanksgiving to Janaki or Sita, the consort of Lord Ram.

 

According to informed sources, it is the only temple in the country

where sex workers, otherwise ostracized by society, are allowed to

enter the sanctum sanctorum of a shrine.

 

In Hindu mythology, Sita is seen as a symbol of purity and perfect

womanhood. Traditionally, locals here believe that Sita bestowed

respectability to the sex workers and made it mandatory for devotees

to invite them to the temple to pray and dance once their wishes

were fulfilled.

 

Thousands of people come to the temple during the first week of

April, mostly to seek the blessings of the deity to have children or

for marital bliss.

 

"We have been coming here for the last five years...whenever

people's wishes are fulfilled they bring us here to dance. The

Goddess Janaki is pleased with us, this is why we come here," Guddi,

a sex worker said.

 

The women, dressed in colourful and flowing dresses, besides heavy

jewelery and loud makeup, mingle freely with the people who show

them respect and offer them numerous gifts.

 

"This is a one of kind fair in the world and in a span of just eight

hours over a million people congregrate here. The sex workers dance

and revel to please the goddess," Udyabhansingh Yadav, the event's

organizer, said.

 

Ninety-four percent of the country's three million sex workers are

Indian, while the rest are mainly from Bangladesh and Nepal. At

least 600,000 minors are also employed in the profession and their

number is said to increasing by almost 10 per cent every year.

 

Source: Hindunet News

URL: http://www.hindunet.com/onps/showarticle.php?ph=&ag=&a=13611