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Kasvva Haragan, 28, waits for a customer at her brothel door in Gokak, India. Her parents dedicated her as a Devadasi at the age 12 and to avoid the legal ramifications of the Devadasi Protection Act, had a ceremony at home. She now lives and works in a brothel with 2 other women and support her parents, two sisters and a brother. She also gives 50% of her earnings to the brothel owner. "Who would want to marry me? I'm a Devadasi," she says when asked if she'd like to marry a man. Haragan is illiterate as she worked in the sugar cane fields as a child rather than going to school and therefore has few other options to make an income. .

Filename
12devadasistory.jpg
Copyright
Julia Cumes
Image Size
4165x2893 / 1.4MB
Contained in galleries
God's Prostitutes--Investigating India's Devadasi System
Kasvva Haragan, 28, waits for a customer at her brothel door in Gokak, India. Her parents dedicated her as a Devadasi at the age 12 and to avoid the legal ramifications of the Devadasi Protection Act, had a ceremony at home. She now lives and works in a brothel with 2 other women and support her parents, two sisters and a brother. She also gives 50% of her earnings to the brothel owner. "Who would want to marry me? I'm a Devadasi," she says when asked if she'd like to marry a man. Haragan is illiterate as she worked in the sugar cane fields as a child rather than going to school and therefore has few other options to make an income. .