BAYADERE, b5'yei-der', or BAYADEER (from the Port. bailadeiria, through the Fr. bayurVere. dansense, dancing girl; cf. It. WWI tare, to dance, Engl. ballet). A name frequently used by Europeans to denote the dancing girls and singers of India. The title is especially ap plied to the women connected with the temples of Southern India as opposed to the Nautch girls of Northern India. As ministrants at the temples the Indian dancing women correspond in general to the lep68ovXot, or hierodali, the girls in attend ance upon the shrine of Aphrodite, or Venus, at Corinth, in ancient Greece. in Southern India these girls are known as Dcra-dasis, servants or slaves of the gods, and their office is to minister to the particular divinity to whom the temple may be sacred; to serve him and his priests at sacred festivals and solemn proces sions; to celebrate his glories and to weave the wreaths with which his image is decorated; to dance and sing twice a day before his idol at the shrine; and generally to perform subordinate duties in the temple, without participating in the celebration of certain of the most sacred rites, and to serve the priests in various ways. Al though these dancing women are the servants of the gods, the public is said to call them by the more vulgar name of courtesans or prostitutes, whether they be for the enjoyment of the idols, or the Brahmans, or the benefactors of the sanc tuaries. Hence, no doubt, conies the bad asso
ciation connected with the designation `woman of the bayadere stripe.' The ranks of the better class of these female ministrants at the temple are recruited, it is said, from the Vagya, or merchant caste; the inferior class from the fam ilies of Sudras, or working people. No strong social prejudice, however. is felt against their calling. A small but fixed salary is paid to them for their services in connection with the temple, and this stipend they supplement, it is under stood, in various ways peculiar to their person and their profession. They are often called in to perform at banquets, marriages, or at entertain ments of the rieb or the noble. Dancing in India is still confined to these professional girls, and is not considered respectable, although with the advance of female education women are now more generally taught to sing as well as to read. The special patroness or protectress of the Deva d5sis is the goddess Rambhri. who belongs to the band of Apsarases, or heavenly nymphs, of In dra's paradise. Consult Dubois, Hindu Han vers. Customs, and Ceremonies (Oxford, 1897) ; and see DANCING GIRL, NAUTCII.