Despite the persisting curiosity and scholarly engagement, since the early 19th century, the custom of sacred prostitution and the enigmatic persona of the sacred prostitute remains mystified. Over time in seeking to reimagine the experience of sacred prostitution, what was bewildering was the remarkable consensus that had gained legitimacy in the ideal of the virgin whore. This neo-emergent ideal is symptomatic of the cultural reconstitution of the erotic female ritual specialists; impassionately produced by the intelligentsia, evoked by the non-governmental organizations, and reinforced by the state through its reformative politics.

Given the cultural variations and multiple manifestations in distinct religious traditions, the ritual women throw up challenges in terms of methodology and epistemology. The presentation will explore the possibilities of rethinking the exceptional being of this specific category of women between theogamy and patriarchy to critically explore issues of sexuality, power, and marginality in caste societies within the South Indian context. It seeks to underscore the need to move beyond available paradigms in understanding outcaste pasts and thus beyond a history of pathos to rethink the outcaste question and caste as an ideology and structure.