Scary India, where prostitution is a “traditional value” in many villages (7 photos)

For several generations, residents of one Indian village have been engaged in prostitution, passing this “business” on by inheritance. Nath Purwa is a small village in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is approximately two hours' drive from the provincial capital, Lucknow.





In the morning, dozens of children in shabby clothes run through the dusty streets of Nat Purva. It's impossible not to notice their large, round bellies (this "bloat" comes from a lack of protein due to malnutrition). Children have fun in the fields, chasing cows - there is not much other entertainment here.

Like most other villages in the area, Nath Purwa suffers from extreme poverty. But one element sets the village apart from others in the area: here prostitution is a hereditary craft, passed down from one generation of women to the next.



When Chandraprabha turned 15, she joined this profession, like almost all the girls from the village. Her grandmother then said:

"The whole village is engaged in prostitution. What difference does it make if you become one of them?"

Now Chandraprabha is a 50-year-old woman whose face is covered with wrinkles. Recalling her past, she sincerely said that she had felt bad all her life. With the first man, then the second, fourth, fifth, sixth. Thousands of men were her “guests.” All this was terrible from the very beginning, but it seemed that there was simply no way out of this situation. She had to live somehow, eat something.





The woman was still able to leave prostitution due to unbearable humiliation. At some point it became clear that this could not continue.

Chandraprabha and thousands of other women from Nat Purva belong to the Nat community, which has lived on the margins for decades. Before prostitution became the norm for them, they were artists, and some still continue this tradition. More specifically, the locals were dancers, acrobats, jugglers and magicians.

In 1871, a law was passed that classified certain tribes as engaging in "criminal activities." Nat fell under it. The British banned their activities: they beat them, arrested them, tortured them. This cut off their traditional source of livelihood, and the women went to great lengths. This is where the history of prostitution in the village begins.

Is this normal for all of India?



Nat Purva is not unique: researchers say it is difficult to estimate the exact number of such “prostitution villages” in India.

They are distributed throughout the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. For other communities, prostitution has also become a survival strategy since colonialism.

This phenomenon is not limited to the northern and central regions of India. In the south of the country, the devadasi tradition, which involves girls serving deities in temples, has evolved into something else.



In the pre-colonial era, devadasis were dancers in the temple and were married to divine priests. Under British rule, temple dancing was classified as a criminal act and girls were instead forced to sell their bodies to earn money. Thus prostitution became a “tradition” in South India as well.

Over time, women from these communities moved to urban centers in India such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and even abroad. If you visit brothels in big cities, you will definitely find women from these communities. Researchers have found that up to one percent of all women in India are involved in this service sector.

Children's problems



If you talk to the children from Nat Purva, it turns out that many of them do not have surnames - only first names. Nat Purva is often called the "village of bastards".

Residents describe how they have repeatedly faced humiliation in society when enrolling in studies or getting a job: “Whose son are you? The son of a prostitute? Then you must be illegitimate. Nobody knows who your father is. Nobody knows whose son you are.” ".

Naturally, people experience great problems and regular humiliation in connection with this. Many receive a poor education and remain in a vicious circle.



The school at Nat Purva does not look particularly impressive. A dull environment, one room with several benches and a board. A 12-year-old student said shyly, "I don't know what I'll become. I'll become who I'm meant to be." It doesn't sound very ambitious and quite sad.