none 10.5325/critphilrace.11.1.0148 The Pennsylvania State University Press The Pennsylvania State University Press 3287 146806554 216428 2023040516434383200 10.5325 2026-05-19T09:39:20Z 2023-04-05T12:43:52Z 4 Critical Philosophy of Race 2165-8684 2165-8692 01 2023 01 27 2023 11 1 Sowjanya Tamalapakula Tata Institute of Social Sciences Abstract The economics of female sexuality in India are embodied in the caste system, which allocates women of certain caste groups to the domestic sphere and relegates Dalit/lower caste women to religious/sacred prostitution. The dominance of Shudra (often OBC) castes over religious spaces further marginalized Dalits and vulnerable lower-Shudra castes pertaining to the sexual exploitation of men and women within the institution of sacred prostitution. Shudra (OBC) castes’ hold over religious institutions in contemporary society facilitated the hegemony of the Brahminic ideology of caste and patriarchy even in the lower-caste religious practices like worship of female deities such as Yellamma in south India. This article discusses the religious aspects of the oppression of Dalits (outcastes) shaped by lower-caste religiosity through a study of the conditions of Dalit men and women who are dedicated to the temples of village deities and are varyingly called Jogta, Jogtin, Jogini, Potaraju, Matangi/Matamma, Shivashakti, Basavi, and Murali in different regions of south India. The current study is based on the experiences of Joginis and Jogtas from Telangana and Marathwada region of the state of Maharashtra. This article explores the livelihood aspect of the Jogini system, in other words, the economic vulnerabilities shaped by caste hierarchies that result in the perpetuation of the practice of sacred prostitution; how the caste hierarchies refigure in the reorganization of masculinities through the institutions of Jogini and Jogta; and how the question of Dalit self-respect is construed by Joginis and Jogtas within the paradigm of religious institutions. 01 2023 01 27 2023 148 174 10.5325/critphilrace.11.1.0148 https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/cpr/article/11/1/148/351208/Whatever-Happened-to-Jogta-and-Jogtin-Subjugation https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/cpr/article-pdf/11/1/148/1849674/critphilrace_11_1_148.pdf https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/psup/cpr/article-pdf/11/1/148/1849674/critphilrace_11_1_148.pdf https://muse.jhu.edu/article/887359 Subaltern Studies XI: Community, Gender and Violence 106 2000 Journal for the Study of Religion 15 1 39 2002 “The Suffering Mothers: The Hindu Amman Goddesses as Empowering Role Models for Women.” Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar: Writings and Speeches 27 1979 On Violence 1970 Journal of Anthropological Society of Bombay 9 2 93 1910 “Basavis in Peninsular India.” Economic and Political Weekly 28 52 A149 1993 “Land System in India: A Historical Review.” Gendering Caste through a Feminist Lens 2003 Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment 2000 New French Feminisms 117 1980 “Report Submitted by Sri V. Raghunath Rao: One-Man Commission in Respect of Problems Faced by Joginies, Basavis, Mathammas and Devadasis and Their Children.” Government of Andhra Pradesh 2013 Humiliation: Claims and Contexts 209 2009 Why I Am Not a Hindu 1996 The Prisons We Broke 2008 Of Religion, Goddess and NGO: Jogini Women Reform and Dynamics of Social Change in South India 2007 Indian Anthropologist 32 1/2 1 2002 “Theogamy in Rural India: Socio-Cultural Dimensions of the ‘Jogini’ System in Andhra Pradesh.” National Law School Journal 5 1 82 1993 “From Devadasi Reform Act to SITA: Reforming Sex Work in Mysore State, 1892–1937.” Economic and Political Weekly 33 44 34 1998 “Is the Hindu Goddess a Feminist?” Feminist Studies 37 1 28 2011 10.1353/fem.2011.0014 “When the Devi Is Your Husband: Sacred Marriage and Sexual Economy in South India.” Special issue, “Conjugality and Sexual Economies in India,” Against the Madness of Manu 2013 Indian Women: Myth and Reality 98 1995 Devadasi Cult: A Sociological Analysis 1990 Feminist Studies 37 1 63 2011 10.1353/fem.2011.0033 “Creating Conjugal Subjects: Devadasis and the Politics of Marriage in Colonial Madras Presidency.” The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology 8 1 73 1983 “The Hindu Temple-Dancer: Prostitute or Nun?” Economic and Political Weekly 27 9 477 1992 “Dora and Gadi: Manifestation of Landlord Domination in Telengana.” Recasting the Devadasi: Patterns of Sacred Prostitution in Colonial South India 2004