Devadasi

Devadasi

Sanskrit“female servant of a god”

      group of women who dedicated themselves to the service of the patron god of the great temples in eastern and southern India.

 This order or caste appears to date from the 9th and 10th centuries. Members of the order attended the god—fanned the icon, honoured it with lights, and sang and danced for the god's amusement—and thereby offered their auspicious presence to the deity. They played an important part in preserving elements of Hindu (Hinduism) culture—for example, by performing the great Sanskrit poem Gitagovinda for its hero, the god Krishna, in the temple dedicated to him in Puri. The sons and daughters of Devadasis had equal rights of inheritance, an unusual practice among Hindu castes. Until the 20th century they were quite visible; in about 1800 the main temple of Kanchipuram (Conjeeveram) had 100 Devadasis. They came to be held in low social regard because their occupation involved temple prostitution, and by the end of the 20th century they had largely disappeared.
 

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Devadasi — Devadâsî Les devadâsî littéralement servante de la divinité étaient des jeunes filles consacrées au temple dès leur plus jeune âge, elles étaient considérées comme des épouses de la divinité. À l origine destinées au service de la divinité, elles …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Devadâsi — Devadâsî Les devadâsî littéralement servante de la divinité étaient des jeunes filles consacrées au temple dès leur plus jeune âge, elles étaient considérées comme des épouses de la divinité. À l origine destinées au service de la divinité, elles …   Wikipédia en Français

  • devadasi —    Devadasi literally means, “a servant of god.” This term was applied to women who lived in temples as the wives of the male divinity there. Tradition ally the women were married in a solemn cer emony to the divinity. The women were seen to be… …   Encyclopedia of Hinduism

  • devadasi — ● devadasi nom féminin (sanskrit devadāsī, servante du dieu) Prostituée rituelle rattachée aux temples hindous …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • devadasi — devadàsi ž <indekl.> DEFINICIJA rel. u hinduističkom hramu božja službenica, plesačica, bajadera ETIMOLOGIJA skr. devadasī: božja služavka …   Hrvatski jezični portal

  • Devadasi — Devadasi, die erste Klasse der Bajaderen, s.d …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • Devadasi — In Hinduism, the devadasi tradition (देवदासी / ದೇವದಾಸಿ; servant of god ) is a religious tradition in which girls are married and dedicated to a deity (deva or devi) or to a temple and includes performance aspects such as those that take place in… …   Wikipedia

  • Devadâsî —  Ne doit pas être confondu avec La Bayadère. Deux devadâsî à Chennai en 1920. Les devadâsî littéralement servante de la divinité étaient des femmes …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Devadasi — Devadasis in Tamil Nadu um 1920 Devadasis (देवदासी) waren südindische Tempeltänzer und vor allem tänzerinnen, die als „Gottes Dienerinnen“ bei Gottesdiensten oder auch bei weltlichen Veranstaltungen als Tänzerinnen auftraten. Die Devadasis… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • devadasi — de·va·dà·si s.f.inv. TS relig. in India: giovane donna addetta al servizio di un tempio buddista {{line}} {{/line}} DATA: 1817. ETIMO: dal sanscr. devadāsī serva di dio …   Dizionario italiano

  • devadasi — [ˌdeɪvə dα:si] noun (plural devadasis) a female dancer in a Hindu temple. Origin from Sanskrit devadāsī, lit. female servant of a god …   English new terms dictionary

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