It was noticed by Lord Dufferin, on the occasion of a Viceregal visit to Madura, that the front part of the dress of the dancing-girls hangs in petticoats, but the back is only trousers.
The Rev. A. Margöschis writes in connection with the practice of dilating the lobes of the ears in Tinnevelly, that, as it was once the fashion and a mark of respectability to have long ears, so now the converse is true. Until a few years ago, if a woman had short ears, she was asked if she was a Dēva-dāsi, because that class kept their ears natural. Now, with the change of customs all round, even dancing-girls are found with long ears. “The dancing-girls are,” the Rev. M. Phillips writes,[15] “the most accomplished women among the Hindus. They read, write, sing and play as well as dance. Hence one of the great objections urged at first against the education of girls was ‘We don’t want our daughters to become dancing-girls’.”
It is on record[16] that, in 1791, the Nabob of the Carnatic dined with the Governor of Madras, and that, after dinner, they were diverted with the dancing wenches, and the Nabob was presented with cordial waters, French brandy and embroidered China quilts. The story is told of a Governor of Madras in more recent times, who, ignorant of the inverse method of beckoning to a person to advance or retreat in the East, was scandalised when a nautch girl advanced rapidly, till he thought she was going to sit in his lap. At a nautch in the fort of the Mandasa Zemindar in honour of Sir M. E. Grant Duff,[17] the dancing-girls danced to the air of Malbrook se va t’en guerre. Bussy taught it to the dancing-girls, and they to their neighbours. In the Vizagapatam and Godāvari jungles, natives apostrophise tigers as Bussy. Whether the name is connected with Bussy I know not.
Of Dēva-dāsis at the Court of Tippoo Sultan, the following account was published in 1801.[18] “Comme Souverain d’une partie du Visapour, Tippoo-Saïb jouissoit de la facilité d’avoir parmi ses bayadères celles qui étoient les plus renommées par leurs talens, leurs graces, leur beauté, etc. Ces bayadères sont des danseuses supérieures dans leur genre; tout danse et tout joue en même-tems chez elles; leur tête, leurs yeux, leurs bras, leurs pieds, tout leur corps, semblent ne se mouvoir que from enchanter; elles sont d’une incroyable légèreté, et ont le jarret aussi fort que souple; leur taille est des plus sveltes et des plus élégantes, et elles n’ont pas un mouvement qui ne soit une grace. La plus âgée de ces femmes n’avoit pas plus de seize à dix-sept ans. Aussi tot qu’elles atteignoient cet âge, on les réformoit, et alors elles alloient courir les provinces, on s’attachoient à des pagodes, dans lesqueles elles étoient entretenues, et ou leurs charmes étoient un des meilleurs revenus des brames.”
General Burton narrates[19] how a civilian of the old school built a house at Bhavāni, and established a corps de ballet, i.e., a set of nautch girls, whose accomplishments actually extended to singing God save the King, and this was kept up by their descendants, so that, when he visited the place in 1852, he was “greeted by the whole party, bedizened in all their finery, and squalling the national anthem as if they understood it, which they did not.” With this may be contrasted a circular from a modern European official, which states that “during my jamabandy (land revenue settlement) tour, people have sometimes been kind enough to arrange singing or dancing parties, and, as it would have been discourteous to decline to attend what had cost money to arrange, I have accepted the compliment in the spirit in which it was offered. I should, however, be glad if you would let it be generally known that I am entirely in accord with what is known as the anti-nautch movement in regard to such performances.”
It was unanimously decided, in 1905, by the Executive Committee of the Prince and Princess of Wales’ reception fund, that there should be no performance by nautch girls at the entertainment to be given to Their Royal Highnesses at Madras.
In a note on Basavis, the Collector of the Bellary district writes that “it is usual among Hindus to dedicate a bull for public use on the death of a member of their family. These are the breeding bulls of the village flock. Similarly, cows are dedicated, and are called Basavis. No stigma attaches to Basavis or their children, and they are received on terms of equality by other members of their caste. The origin of the institution, it has been suggested, may probably be traced to the time when the Bōyas, and other castes which dedicate Basavis, were soldiers, and the Basavis acted as camp-followers and nurses of the wounded in battle. According to Hindu custom, the wives of the men could not be taken from their homes, and, other women of the caste being required to attend to their comforts, the institution of Basavis might have been started; or, if they existed before then as religious devotees attached to temples, they might have been pressed into their service, and the number added to as occasion required. In Narayandēvarkeri there are many Bōyas and many Basavis. On the car-festival day, the Bōyas cannot take meals until the car is taken back to its original place after the procession. Sometimes, owing to some accident, this cannot be done the same day, and the car-drawing Bōyas sleep near the car, and do not go to their houses. Then it is their Basavis who bring them food, and not their wives.” At Adoni I have seen a Basavi, who was working at a cotton press for a daily wage of three annas, in full dress on a holiday in honour of a local deity, wearing an elaborately chased silver waist belt and abundant silver jewelry. The following are examples of petitions presented to a European Magistrate and Superintendent of Police by girls who are about to become Basavis:—
Petition of __________ aged about 17 or 18.
I have agreed to become a Basavi, and get myself stamped by my guru (priest) according to the custom of my caste. I request that my proper age, which entitles me to be stamped, may be personally ascertained, and permission granted to be stamped.
The stamping refers to branding with the emblems of the chank and chakram.