{"id":501,"date":"2018-06-27T10:54:33","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T15:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/courtesansofindia\/?p=501"},"modified":"2018-06-27T10:54:43","modified_gmt":"2018-06-27T15:54:43","slug":"sharma-karuna-the-social-world-of-prostitutes-and-devadasis-a-study-of-the-social-structure-and-its-politics-in-early-modern-india-journal-of-international-womens-studies-vol-9-no-1-200","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.huronresearch.ca\/courtesansofindia\/?p=501","title":{"rendered":"Sharma, Karuna. “The Social World of Prostitutes and Devadasis: A Study of the Social Structure and Its Politics in Early Modern India.” Journal of International Women’s Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2007, pp. 297-310.\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is available for free online through The Journal of International Women’s Studies.<\/a><\/p>\n

This article challenges some of the arguments of Veena Talwar Oldenburg’s “Lifestyle As Resistance: The Case of the Courtesans of Lucknow, India.”\u00a0 <\/a>Put simply, Oldenburg argues that devadasis performed “covert subversion of a male-dominated world [by] resisting and inverting the rules of gender.” Sharma, contrastingly, argues that devadasis found economic and social success by operating within the socially-constructed bounds of acceptable labour.\u00a0\u00a0We encourage our readers to read both articles!<\/p>\n

Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n

This research paper discusses two groups of professional women who had a distinct place in the sexual economy of the period under review. By analyzing the actions and situations of prostitutes and the\u00a0devadasis\u00a0<\/em>(literally meaning servants of God) in terms of a broader context of relationships, I consider the sexual-services and the entertainment provided by them as a meaningful labor, which got integrated at both the social and cultural levels. I have looked at how and to whom the prostitutes and the\u00a0devadasis<\/em>\u00a0sold their labor, and how they related to other women, to men, and to various social systems. The study of these professionals shows different strands of Indian culture and one could state that the world of entertainment, to which these professions belonged, itself is a cultural reproduction of society. Specifically, it is my view that the prostitutes were sought after for their physical attraction, but elegance and \u00e9lan were to an extent constitutive elements of their profession. In the case of\u00a0devadasis<\/em>\u00a0who were the custodians of the arts of singing and dancing and whose dedicated status made them a symbol of social prestige, I would say that while the economic\/professional benefits were considerable, they did not lack social honor either. The essay shows that the women who were part of this set-up, a set-up which thrived on the commercialization of women\u2019s reproductive labor, had those skills and expertise which eventually get appropriated by politico-economic structures. This gives a better insight into the politics of human relations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article is available for free online through The Journal of International Women’s Studies. This article challenges some of the arguments of Veena Talwar Oldenburg’s “Lifestyle As Resistance: The Case of the Courtesans of Lucknow, India.”\u00a0 Put simply, Oldenburg argues that devadasis performed “covert subversion of a male-dominated world [by] resisting and inverting the rules Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[34,69,75,44],"class_list":["post-501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history-devadasis","tag-devadasi","tag-gender-roles","tag-resistance-protest","tag-sex-work"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t