Dance of Despair

Rajuabala Devi was a nachni, a dancing girl, and treated in life the same way as in death. Spread over Purulia and neighbouring districts in the states of Jharkhand and Orissa, nachnis are bonded sex slaves of their masters—known as rasiks—throughout their productive lives. They have no rights, are excluded from social and religious events and denied a decent funeral. Their children are treated worse than bastards. The life of a nachni has changed little over the five centuries that this practice has existed—living in free India means nothing to them.

Nachnis are usually girls from very poor families, sold to or lured into song and dance troupes, or forced to join them because they are widows and ‘tainted’ women. Rasiks are young men in these troupes who train the women to sing and dance. The dances are sensuous and titillating, bordering on the vulgar. After the performance, nachnis often end up with men who have paid their rasiks for their ‘services’. This sexual exploitation begins before puberty and continues after menopause. Rasiks have ‘legal’ families who treat the nachni like an outcast, but readily live off her earnings.

Apart from not letting her live among them, the villagers do not even speak to her. She insists Manohar loves her, but says: "He beats me up savagely, especially after drinking with the money earned after a programme." Sandhyarani was drawn into this net by Manohar at a young age. "I never knew what I was being pushed into." And when she did realise, there was no way she could walk away.

Octogenarian Kallabati Devi used to set the stage on fire. Now, the frail woman ekes out a pitiable existence washing utensils and mopping floors at a dhaba at Manguria, on the outskirts of Purulia town. She tells us she’s counting her days. Death will be a relief, she says—and she doesn’t care if her body is denied the dignity denied her in life.