Needs a little diging into history. When Devdasis nurturing these arts, the society looked down upon them and these arts. Then it became necessary to preserve these art forms of Music and Dance. That's when, women of the upper strata of the then society took an adventurous step by lending a helping hand to Devdasis against huge uproar by the then conservative society. One may check the story of Rukminidevi Arundale. It was a risky step in those days- if you succeed, you can give an aura of respect to that art but if you fail you yourself risk degradation in the then conservative society. When I say society I dont mean only the upper strata but all sections of society. In those days all sections of society looked down upon devdasis. If truth needs to be found without bias or prejudice one may know the story of the great MS Subbulakshmi. Even a diamond needs polishing. But for his support the world could not have known as much as it did of this great musician. No one has taken away from anyone. Just lent their support when the society degraded them-so that one day we can have a Rahman among ourselves.
