When women from the Gomantak Maratha Samaj first arrived in Bombay in the 1900s, they were seen as a threat… as ‘evil ladies’,” professor-author Dr Anjali Arondekar tells us. Perceived as “cultural outliers”, people feared they would pollute the form and fabric of the traditional Hindu family. The reality, explains Arondekar, was different—women from the Samaj fiercely opposed their own exploitation, and in doing so, pushed formidable boundaries.

The Samaj draws its members from complex groupings of Goan Devadasis, and traces its roots back to the early 19th century, when Goa was under Portuguese occupation. They were composed primarily of Bahujan women who served at temples, and had Brahmin men as patrons. While devadasis were often seen as interchangeable with courtesans and prostitutes, women from this group “were protected under traditional and colonial law for their attachment to temples”. “Unlike what might be expected of a sex worker in the traditional sense, they had both coercive and non-coercive monogamous relationships with mostly Brahmin, and sometimes non-Brahmin, men,” adds Arondekar.