The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c11.s2.13

c11.s2.13

The introduction of dancing girls in temples tended to lower their moral and spiritual atmosphere. Some people began to visit shrines not so much to pay their respects to deities, as to carry on their love intrigues with the singing girls employed there. To judge from a reference in the *Kuṭṭinīmatam*, we have to conclude that sometimes this used to happen even in the famous temple of Viśvanātha at Benares¹. The custom, when introduced, was therefore vehemently opposed by all the champions of social purity like Brahmanas and ascetics. Alberuni refers to this opposition and says that it proved of no avail, because the custom was championed by kings and members of the aristocracy (II, p. 157). A 10th century inscription from Rajaputana confirms the statement of Alberuni. It records the express instructions of a chieftain to his descendants that if the arrangement that he had made about the services of dancing girls at different temples was interfered with by ascetics and Brahmanas, they should be at once stopped (*E. I.*, XI, p. 28). It is therefore clear from this record that the opposition of the majority of the Brahmanas and puritanical thinkers to the association of dancing girls with temples was so strong down to the 10th century that even kings were afraid that their arrangements may fail owing to the success of the puritanical crusade. It is thus clear that the Purāṇas, which recommend the employment of dancing girls in temples, represent the view of a minority of the Brahmana community, which in its zeal to provide pomp and splendour at temple service, failed to realise the natural effects of the new practice on the moral and spiritual atmosphere of divine shrines. All the moral and religious leaders of the community, however, fought against this innovation. Their opposition, however, proved of no avail. The royal support eventually succeeded in making the custom general and popular.