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Sex workers dance at temple fair

     Kurail (Madhya Pradesh): Breaking tradition, hundreds of sex workers danced at a temple fair in the village of Kurail in Madhya Pradesh offering thanksgiving to Janaki or Sita, the consort of Lord Ram. According to informed sources, it is the only temple in the country where sex workers, otherwise ostracized by society, are allowed to enter the sanctum sanctorum of a shrine. In Hindu mythology, Sita is seen as a symbol of purity and perfect womanhood. Traditionally, locals here believe that Sita bestowed respectability to the sex workers and made it mandatory for devotees to invite them to the temple to pray and dance once their wishes were fulfilled.

    Thousands of people come to the temple during the first week of April, mostly to seek the blessings of the deity to have children or for marital bliss. "We have been coming here for the last five years...whenever people's wishes are fulfilled they bring us here to dance. The Goddess Janaki is pleased with us, this is why we come here," Guddi, a sex worker said. The women, dressed in colourful and flowing dresses, besides heavy jewellery and loud makeup, mingle freely with the people who show them respect and offer them numerous gifts. "This is a one of kind fair in the world and in a span of just eight hours over a million people congregrate here. The sex workers dance and revel to please the goddess," Udyabhansingh Yadav, the event's organizer, said. Ninety-four percent of the country's three million sex workers are Indian, while the rest are mainly from Bangladesh and Nepal. At least 600,000 minors are also employed in the profession and their number is said to increasing by almost 10 per cent every year.
- April 8, 2004