An award-winning Odia novel of devotion, tradition and the lives of women in the sacred world of Lord Jagannath.

First published in Odia in 1989, Devadasi received the Odisha Sahitya Akademi Award in 1991. Now available in English translation, the novel brings to a wider readership a world shaped by faith, ritual and the Mahari tradition of Puri.

At its heart is Mukta Mahari, a devadasi dedicated to Lord Jagannath. Her life is inseparable from the rituals of the Jagannath Temple and from a tradition in which dance is both devotion and duty. But beyond the sacred rituals lies a deeply human world of love and loss, faith and conflict, vulnerability and resilience.

Spanning three generations-Mukta, her foster mother Indu, and her foster daughter Maya-the novel explores the inner lives of women bound together by inheritance, affection and a tradition that both gives meaning to their lives and circumscribes them.

The novel grew out of Bijoyini Das's extensive engagement with the Mahari/devadasi tradition and the cultural and ritual world of the Jagannath Temple. In her acknowledgement, the author records drawing upon the knowledge and assistance of eminent dance gurus Kelucharan Mohapatra and Debaprasad Das, Mahari Haripriya Devi, Mahari Kokila, and others with intimate knowledge of the tradition and Puri.

Devadasi offers a richly textured portrayal of a cultural world that has largely disappeared, while remaining, at its heart, a deeply human story of women navigating faith, relationships, tradition and change.

A story of devotion and womanhood, of the lives we inherit, and of what happens when a centuries-old tradition encounters a changing world.