DEVADASI (RELIGIOUS PROSTITUTION). The Devadasi system was set up, according to a Times of India report (10-11-87), as a result of conspiracy between the feudal class and the priests (Brahmins). The latter, with their ideological and religious hold over the peasants and craftsmen, devised a means that gave prostitution their religious sanction. Poor low-caste Hindu girls, initially sold at private auctions, were later "dedicated" to the temples. They were then initiated in to prostitution Even to this day this religious prostitution blessed by Hindu religion is still alive in Karnataka and Maharashtra
