THE JOURNAL 0F ASIAN STUDIES - FEBRUARY 1990 (p. 184-185)


Nityasumangali: Devadasi Tradition in South India. By Saskia C. Kersenboom - Story.
Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1987. xxii, 226 pp. $24.00.

This meticulously prepared work by a Dutch scholar combines the study of Sanskrit, Tamil, and Telugu texts with fieldwork to reveal the cultural significance of the devadasis as nityasumangalis, or "ever-auspicious women." This view of female temple dancers and singers is corroborated by Frédérique Apffel Marglin's study of devadasis, in eastern India. Saskia Kersenboom-Story's work will delight both experts on worship in South India and scholars interested in the images of womanhood in the Hindu tradition. Nityasumangalis are female ritual specialists found at different levels within the Hindu tradition. They are necessitated by the ambivalent divine, which is conceived as eternally and omnipresently expressing itself "in the dynamic tension of creation and destruction, of balance and imbalance, of auspicious and inauspicious" (p. 202). These ritual specialists are exceptionally qualified to deal with any critical accumulation of dynamic force or "heat" in the deity. Ritually married to a god or symbol of the divine, nityasumangalts can never become widows. Basavis, ellammadasis, and matankis are nityasumangalis who function in relation to village and tribal deities, whereas devadasis function within the context of the Agamic temple and in rituals for the king. Kersenboom-Story traces the concept of the nityasumangali- to the Cankam Age beginning in 100 B.c. and lasting till the collapse of the Tanjore court in 1947. She asserts that the traditional mythicopoetical universe in which the devadasi functioned as a nityasumangali no longer exists. One factor that has shattered this universe is a sense of cynicism regarding devotional worship. Another is the modern political structure, marked by the disappearance of the king both as a representative of divine power and as the patron and protector of religion. In contrast to the steady patronage and ritual interaction between Hindu kings and devadasis, the Madras legislature outlawed the dedication of devadasis to deities in 1947.

Through the study of devadasi participation in temple rituals, devadasi repertoire, and rites of passage, Kersenboom-Story reveals the meaning and significance of the nityasumangali for the Hindu tradition before the breakdown of this mythico-poetical universe. She provides a detailed analysis of the role of the devadasi in both the daily and festival temple rituals based on Sanskrit manuals, inscriptions, and informants' accounts. She concludes that the devadasi-nityasumangali deals with the ambivalent divine in three ways: through her sexuality, which is identified with that of the goddess; through ritual implements, such as the pot and the lamp, which are used to dispel evil influences; and through her art, which spreads auspiciousness. Kersenboom-Story's diligence in locating rare literary texts and informants is praiseworthy. Her sources include the Sadyojatasivacaryaá commentary on the Kam-kamaga, which was read out to her by Sri Muttaiya Bhattur. Because both devadasi kagama, dedication and dancing by women have been banned in Hindu temples in Tamilnadu for more than forty years, her interviews with devadasis record valuable information that might otherwise have been lost to scholars. In fact, Kersenboom-Story intens to publish a second volume entitled Devadasi Heritage, translating and preserving more examples drawn from the devadasi repertoire.

One weakness of this work is its failure to deal with the sexual vitality of the devadasis. As wives of the deity, devadasis were ineligible to marry human beings. Historical accounts have pictured them as glamorous courtesans or common prostitutes. Kersenboom-Story records that her informants described themselves as wives or concubines by bonds of affection to Brahmans. She had no wish to deny the "association of devadasis with the field of erotic experience" but believed that calling the devadasis sacred prostitutes" or "goddesses of ferti1ti'lity" would be gross exaggerations (p. 205).

The cultural significance of medieval courtesans and their relationship to the devadasi tradition has been neglected in this work. A more insightful perspective on the relationship between female sexuality and the auspiciousness of the devadasis is developed in Marglin's book. This fine work truly brings to light the concept of the nityasumangali and the significance of the devadasi as a representative of this element in Hindu culture.

KAY K. .JORDAN
Radford University