Devdasi Hijda of Yellamma

Devdasi Hijda of Yellamma, originally uploaded by firoze shakir photographerno1.

She is a Hijda , Aravani or Transgender devoted to the cult of Yellamma .
We meet at crossroads of Bandra Bazar Road time and again, she knows I have an amorphous sense of a poetic human nature that respects their kind..
She knows that I am not completely of the world.
She told me quite convincingly that I have the Vardan of the Hijda Goddess Bhauchara Mata , that at every walk of life I will meet Hijdas ..now this might sound hogwash, but mysticism of the mind is what makes life interesting and worth living.

I have realised and experienced that whether I am in a train, rickshah on the road , wherever I go I meet Hijdas and my 1900  pictures of Hijdas at my Flickr photostream and about 550 pictures at my parent site will show  the truth of the devdasis solemn words.

www.photographerno1.com

My parent site I do not post any more.. Hijdas are human I have mentioned time and again, they have their sombre dark side inspite of their garrulous and extroverted nature.
Hijdas are highly gifted capable of mystical powers , I have met Hijda Bawas , Hijda Malangs, Hijda asectics…at Ajmer and at Haji Malang.

I have trekked to the Grave of the Hijda Saint and his biological son buried near Taragadh.. a pilgrimage site for Hijdas from India..
There is a story attached to it from Khwajah Moinuddin Chishtys time…

This Hijda respects me and is bound to Goddess Yellamma , in her younger days she prostituted her body , but now time has caught up with her , her beauty faded , she begs , but with more spiritual dignity than you find among Hijdas who beg on the roads..

I dont run afer Hijdas , the Hijdas come to me .
Vardan means blessings I am blessed with their sightings as my pictures show .

This picture was shot a few backs before I shot the Dongri Rafaee event..

About Devdasis
from wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devadasi

Yellamma cult of Karnataka in South India
In the state of Karnataka in the region of South India the devadasi system was followed for over 10 centuries. The chief among them was the Yellamma cult [17]. The stories seem to indicate that in the state of Karnataka devadasis originated from Brahmin women who were thrown out of their homes by their husbands.

There are many stories about the origin of the Yellamma cult. The most prevalent one says that Renuka was the daughter of a Brahmin, married to sage Jamadagni and was the mother of five sons. She used to bring water from the river Malaprabha for the sage’s worship and rituals. One day while she was at the river, she saw a group of youths engaged themselves in water sports and forgot to return home in time which made Jamadagni to suspect her chastity. He ordered his sons one by one to punish their mother but four of them refused on one pretext or the other. The sage cursed them to become eunuchs and got her beheaded by his fifth son, Parashuram. To everybody’s astonishment, Renuka’s head multiplied by tens and hundreds and moved to different regions. This miracle made her four eunuch sons and others to become her followers, and worship her head. [18].

The followers of Yellamma, who are mostly poor, and illiterate, take a vow to dedicate themselves, their spouses, or their children in the service of Goddess Yellamma when they are unable to face the hardships of life. The typical situations include life-threatening diseases, infertility, and dire financial troubles. These are the people who are primarily responsible for propagating Goddess Yellamma’s virtues and achievements and glorify the Goddess. An elaborate ceremony is held in order to initiate the Jogathis (female) and Jogappa (male) volunteers in the service of Goddess Yellamma. New followers have to bathe in three holy ponds and proceed to the head priest accompanied by community elders and other members of the family. The priests give them a long sermon on what they have to do please Yellamma. They have to identify themselves with the very poor and unfortunate ones and serve the society. At least twice a year they have to visit the Yellamma shrine on full moon days to express and confirm their obedience. During this semi-annual ritual, they have to observe preferably total nudity. If not, they have to cover their bodies with Neem foliage or scanty clothes. Such rituals, especially in the last decade, have become heavily publicized events due to the oversexed youngsters and tourists who gather around such pilgrimage centers to have glimpses of nude and semi-nude human bodies. [19].