For instance, Lakshmi, a 10 year old girl , being totally blind, was dedicated to become a Devadasi last year and now she has to take care of her entire family of seven members. Now, that the system has been accepted by the women almost as a way of life, neither do they feel hesitant to talk about it nor do they feel outraged. However, those who have challenged it have also only ended up being condemned by the community. In the case of Chatramma, whose daughter has married a man from the neighbouring village, the mother feels her daughter has betrayed her by not carrying on the Devadasi tradition and has hence disowned her. It is a distressing reality that families of Devadasis lead a hand to mouth existence and live under conditions of extreme poverty and squalor.
Most children look underfed and malnourished.
They live in thatched houses that are leaky and in bad shape, requiring immediate repairs. The women perceive any such problem as a normal feature of their life cycle and never take their health concerns seriously. Further, when such handicapped children are born they go through the same vicious cycle as they too are dedicated to the goddess. Frequent pregnancies, abortions and deliveries render majority of the Devadasi women physically weak and anaemic. Contraceptive measures are strictly a taboo and even a mere mention evokes a strong negative response from all the women.