Devadasi: A World Swept Away by the Wind. Temple Dancers in South Indian Culture

The book examines the most important aspects of the lifestyle of temple dancers and the institution of devadasi as a whole: terminology for dedicated women of the temple, the origin of the devadasi institution and the main stages of its development, features of South Indian temple culture and economy, characteristics of the lifestyle of the community of temple dancers and their social status, specifics of the family model and professional activities of devadasis, their main functions in and outside the temple, professional training and initiation rituals, property status and inheritance rights, daily life and relationships with patrons, the specifics of the repertoire and the perception of temple dancers by Europeans, the criminalization and desacralization of devadasi during the colonial period, the struggle for the abolition of the devadasi institution and the creation of bharatanatyam. In the appendix, the reader can familiarize themselves with the history of Tamil Nadu.