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RECENTLY DEFENDED PHD THESES
04 December 2025

Decline and Demise of the Mahari-Devadasis in Orissa

In her recently defended PhD thesis, “Temple Dancer, Prostitute, Celibate Nun? The Shifting Position of the Mahari-Devadasi from Late Colonial India to the early 21st Century”, Shriya Patnaik focuses on the decline and demise of the regional community of Devadasis — hereditary, ritualistic temple dancers and singers — in the Jagannath Temple of Puri, Odisha. Nicole Bourbonnais, Associate Professor of International History and Politics, Co-director of the Gender Centre, and her thesis supervisor, interviewed her about her research and finding in a podcast available both on Youtube and on Soundcloud.

Starting from the 1860s, Dr Patnaik explores colonial and postcolonial legal frameworks and policy measures, as well as sexual regulation projects, that shaped the Devadasi abolition in the modern Indian nation-state, culminating in the extinction of the regional Devadasi community in the state of Odisha in 2021. She also illuminates how the current political climate influences popular culture and regional memory surrounding this community, especially in the ways history is being rewritten and de-historicised.

 


Shriya Patnaik (third from the left) defended with summa cum laude her PhD thesis in International History, titled “Temple Dancer, Prostitute, Celibate Nun? The Shifting Position of the Mahari-Devadasi from Late Colonial India to the Early 21st Century Social”, on 25 June 2025. Professor Aditya Bharadwaj (left) presided over the committee, which included Associate Professor Nicole Bourbonnais, Thesis Supervisor (second from the right), Thesis Supervisor, and Professor Emerita Frédérique Apffel-Marglin (right), Department of Anthropology, Smith College, Northampton MA, USA.

Citation of the PhD thesis: 
Patnaik, Shriya. “Temple Dancer, Prostitute, Celibate Nun? The Shifting Position of the Mahari-Devadasi from Late Colonial India to the Early 21st Century.” PhD thesis, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, 2025.
Access:
An abstract of the PhD thesis is available on this page of the Geneva Graduate Institute’s repository. As the thesis itself is embargoed until September 2028, please contact Dr Patnaik for access.

Banner image: Odissi dancers. Mahari-Devadasis were “the historical creators of the classical Indian dance-form Odissi”, wrote Dr Patnaik in 2021. ShaikhMeraj / Shutterstock.

Podcast recorded and edited by Marc Galvin, Research Valorisation, Research Office.