Entrenched Fissures: Caste and Social Differences among the Devadasis

The religiously sanctioned Devadasi system in India exemplifies intersectional oppression of gender, caste, and sexuality. Historically, Devadasis, or “servants of God,” were women wedded to God who performed temple duties and were considered sacral women with ritual powers. As part of her duties, the Devadasis offer sexual services to her patrons, invariably the economically and socially powerful patriarch/s in society. The Devadasis were not a monolithic community; there were caste-based segregations within the Devadasi community which delineated their social positions. Devadasis were drawn from castes lower in the hierarchy (non-Brahmins) and the Scheduled castes (Dalits). To distinguish the two categories, the Devadasis from the non-Brahmin castes were referred to as Kalavantin/Isai Vellalar/ Kalavantulu and those from the Dalit castes were referred to as Jogini/Mathamma; their social and economic status were entirely different. The Devadasis from the non-Brahmin communities performed classical music and dance, while the Dalit Devadasis performed folk dances during temple festivals. Though the Devadasi system was outlawed in 1988, the practice of dedicating young girls as Devadasis continues to be prevalent among the Scheduled castes. This paper argues that the activists who fought for the liberation of the Devadasis from the oppressive system focused mostly on the Devadasis from the non-Brahmin castes, excluding the Devadasis from the Scheduled castes. This paper contextualizes the prevalence of the Devadasi system within the interconnected matrices of caste and gender structures in Hindu society. Drawing on the socio-historical trajectory of the emancipation of Devadasis in Goa, a state in Western India, this paper analyzes the caste hierarchies and social inequities embedded within the Devadasi system. Apart from discussing the legal interventions initiated by the State to abolish the Devadasi system, this paper also analyses the role of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the emancipation and empowerment of Dalit Devadasis

In Perennial Oppression: Internalized Ideologies of the Devadasis

The Madras Anti-Devadasi Act was passed in 1947 with the primary objective of liberating women from the oppressive norms of the Devadasi system. Sanctioned by religion, the institutionalization of the Devadasi system within the Hindu community legitimated women from certain caste groups to become ‘servants of god’. Through ritualistic norms, the Devadasis were wedded to God and the caste Hindu patriarchs were authorized to control the sexuality of the Devadasis. Given their vulnerable status in terms of caste, class, and gender, women from the castes lower in hierarchy were forced into the system. Despite the legislative intervention of the Anti-Devdasi Act seven decades ago, there are newspaper reports, which substantiate the continuation of the Devadasi systems in some villages in Tamil Nadu, reiterating the power of caste and sexist ideologies within Hindu society. In contemporary times, the Devadasis are mainly drawn from the Scheduled castes, otherwise referred to as Dalits. Literatures by historically marginalized communities play a pivotal role in their liberation. On the contrary an analysis of the literatures by (or on) the Devadasis reveal the internalization of societal ideologies which impedes their empowerment and emancipation. Drawing on Simone de Beauvoir’s conceptualizations of the gendered body and Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of “habitus”, which underlines the embodied nature of social positions, this paper discusses the physical and psychological conditioning of the Devadasis within the caste Hindu society. Through an analysis of two Tamil novels, Moovalur Ramamirtham’s Dasigalin Mosavalai allathu Mathi Petra Minor and Imayam’s Sedal, this paper argues that the Devadasis depicted in the novels are embedded in caste and gender norms that denigrate and oppress them. Hence, as a paradox, their resistance to the system results in perpetuating the oppressive and discriminative social system rather than enabling liberation

Cross-Layer Fragment Indexing based File Deduplication using Hyper Spectral Hash Duplicate Filter (HSHDF) for Optimized Cloud Storage

Cloud computing and storage processing is a big service for maintaining a large number of data in a centralized server to store and retrieve data depending on the use to pay as a service model. Due to increasing storage depending on duplicate copy presence during different sceneries, the increased size leads to increased cost. To resolve this problem, we propose a Cross-Layer Fragment Indexing (CLFI) based file deduplication using Hyper Spectral Hash Duplicate Filter (HSHDF) for optimized cloud storage. Initially, the file storage indexing easy carried out with Lexical Syntactic Parser (LSP) to split the files into blocks. Then comparativesector was created based on Chunk staking. Based on the file frequency weight, the relative Indexing was verified through Cross-Layer Fragment Indexing (CLFI). Then the fragmented index gets grouped by maximum relative threshold margin usingIntra Subset Near-Duplicate Clusters (ISNDC). The hashing is applied to get comparative index points based on hyper correlation comparer using Hyper Spectral Hash Duplicate Filter (HSHDF). This filter the near duplicate contentdepending on file content difference to identify the duplicates. This proposed system produces high performance compared to the other system. This optimizes cloudstorage and has a higher precision rate than other methods

A comparative study of efficacy and safety of anti-oxidants as an add-on therapy to metformin on glycemic parameters in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus patients at a tertiary care hospital

Background: Oxidative stress plays major role in diabetes mellitus (DM), abnormal high free radicals decline antioxidant defence mechanism can lead to damage of cellular organelles and enzymes, increased lipid peroxidation and insulin resistance leads to development of complications. Supplementation of antioxidants protects free radical induced damage and further complications. The objective was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of metformin versus metformin with vitamin C and E on glycaemic parameters in newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).Methods: 60 newly diagnosed T2DM patients were randomized into two groups of 30 in each to receive metformin (500 mg BD) alone in group A versus metformin (500 mg BD)+vitamin C (500 mg OD)+vitamin E (400 mg OD) in group B for 12 weeks. Efficacy was measured by improvement in glycaemic (FBS fasting blood sugar, PPBS postprandial blood sugar and HbA1c glycosylated haemoglobin) parameters at week 4, 8 and 12 from baseline. Safety was assessed by monitoring treatment emergent adverse effects.Results: The baseline characteristics were comparable between the two groups. There was a significant reduction of glycaemic parameters seen in both the groups from baseline to week 12 (p0.05). No significant adverse effects were noted.Conclusions: Both the groups are effective in improving glycaemic indices and supplementation of vitamins along with metformin as compared to metformin alone with no significant adverse effect. Hence, daily consumption of vitamins may be beneficial in decreasing blood glucose in patients with T2DM and thus reducing the risk of complications

Observation of chaotic dynamics in dilute sheared aqueous solutions of CTAT

The nonlinear flow behavior of a viscoelastic gel formed due to entangled, cylindrical micelles in aqueous solutions of the surfactant cetyl trimethylammonium tosilate (CTAT) has been studied. On subjecting the system to a step shear rate lying above a certain value, the shear and normal stresses show interesting time dependent behavior. The analysis of the measured time series shows the existence of a finite correlation dimension and a positive Lyapunov exponent, unambiguously implying that the dynamics can be described by that of a dynamical system with a strange attractor whose dimension increases with the increase in shear rate

Oxidative stress in ageing

Background: Ageing is characterized by a gradual decline in body functions and decreased ability to maintain homeostasis. The free radical theory of ageing proposed by Harman D states that ageing is a result of cumulative damage incurred by free radical reactions. Free radicals are highly reactive molecular species with unpaired electrons; generated in the body by several physiological processes. Prime target to free radical attack are the polyunsaturated fatty acids of cell membranes causing lipid peroxidation. The free radicals are neutralized by the exogenous and endogenous antioxidant systems. Oxidative stress occurs when large number of free radicals are produced or the antioxidant activity is impaired. The present study is focused to find out the role of oxidative stress in ageing.Methods: A cross sectional observational study was undertaken to assess the oxidative stress in ageing; by determining the levels of lipid peroxidation product- malondialdehyde (MDA), the antioxidants- superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ceruloplasmin in various age groups. 150 healthy subjects were selected randomly and categorised into three different age groups of 20-30 years, 40-59 years and 60-90 years; with 50 subjects in each group. Results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation.Results: a significant elevation in serum MDA level and a decline in SOD were observed in 40-59 years and 60-90 years age groups. However, an elevated ceruloplasmin level was found in the above age groups.Conclusions: Aforementioned observations are suggestive of an association between oxidative stress and the progression of ageing process

Metabolite profiling in Mango (Mangifera indica L.) pollen grains in relation to viability

Mango productivity is affected mainly by irregular flowering, proportion of bisexual flowers, poor pollination and fertilization and fruit drop. Poor fruit set in some of the varieties may be associated with the lower pollen viability. The present experiment was initiated to assess the viability of pollen grains and their metabolites in three mango cultivars Amrapali, Alphonso and Totapuri which are differing in their fruit set intensity. The profiling of sugars, amino acids and some of the phytohormones were analysed using Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Assessment of pollen grains in three mango cultivars indicated that free sugars such as fructose and glucose, and available amino acids including serine, proline, lysine, phenylalanine, alanine and glutamic acid were predominantly higher in all the cultivars. Phytohormones like IAA, IBA, ABA, GA,zeatin, jasmonic acid and salicylic acid were significantly different in low fruit setting cultivars Alphonso and Totapuri compared to high fruit setting cultivar Amrapali. In cv. Alphonso all the metabolites were higher at anthesis but later decreased drastically compared to cvs. Totapuri and Amrapali. Pollen viability percentage was significantly higher in cv. Amrapali than in cvs. Totapuri, Alphonso. Among all the cultivars, Amrapali maintained better chemical composition at anthesis and also at two hours after anthesis compared to cvs. Totapuri and Alphonso

Performance analysis of PV powered multilevel inverter

This article deals with the PV based DC/DC boost chopper integrated nine level inverter. This topology requires 7 switches in minimum to obtain a nine level stepped wave output. So the main objective of this paper is to develop a 9 level AC output using PV based DC/DC boost chopper. In the case of conventional multi-level inverter, 16 switches were utilized and the number of sources needed was also more. Here the proposed system comprises of single PV panel and the switches used are also less. Also PV is integrated with DC/DC boost chopper is used to increase the source input level of the inverter. Using MATLAB platform, the proposed system is simulated with a resistive and inductive load. The similar results are obtained in prototype which validates the designed converter