Devadasi, Devadāsī

Devadāsī referred in Ancient India to a lady involved in the worshipping of gods and goddesses. Specifically, a dancing girl attached to a temple; a female temple-servant. Equivalent to vilāsinī, gaṇikā, mahārī. 

In modern India, the term was used to refer to 'courtezans', women dedicating themselves to sacred prostitution. Particularly in Southern India, devadasi were respected members of the community until the British colonial administration made the status unlawful.

In colonial India, devadasi were often confused with the nautchny or nautch girls, performers of a court dance of Hindustani origin which appeared in the last decades of the Mughal Empire. 'Nautch' was a British corruption of the Bengali word নাচ Nāca, "dance".