International Journal of Anthropology and Ethnology volume 4 , Article number: 2 Cite this article. Metrics details.
It is mentioned in colonial literature that Bedia were a nomadic tribe and often engaged in criminal activities too. After the end of monarchy and change in the laws of the state, Bedias had nothing left for their survival. Therefore, Bedia women engaged in prostitution. Prostitution gradually became their primary source of livelihood.
They trained their daughters to become prostitutes in the future. Girls were introduced into this profession as soon as they reached puberty. These girls worked at dance bars and also as professional sex workers in metro cities and villages. Bedia community inhabits many villages of Madhya Pradesh and central India. Since these villages are close to the city, customers find it easy to visit prostitutes regularly, and occasionally prostitutes also visit a customer on demand.
Prostitution has a social stigma and is seen as immoral by other communities. Thus, Bedias are never accepted by other communities due to their disreputable professional practices. This paper deals with the historical understanding of the Bedia as sex workers and the contemporary situation of a particular community. The data was collected through ethnographic fieldwork from two villages Habla and Fatehpur and secondary sources.
In particular, we shall discuss the socio-cultural aspects, family and kinship, lifestyle, the status of women, and domination of culture in this paper. The Bedia community of central India was earlier known as a denotified nomadic tribe. They chiefly engaged in singing and dancing to entertain the Kings and Zamindars Land owners of erstwhile India. They have been using traditional folk dance as a source of survival for their community.
