Dancing for the Gods

A Bedia woman dances during an annual festival at the Kareeladham Temple in Bina, Madhya Pradesh, in April. Childless couples and those seeking male children throng this temple. If their wishes are fulfilled they employ girls of the Bedia community—who were traditionally involved in the sex trade— to dance at the temple as a gesture of thanksgiving

A Bedia woman dances during an annual festival at the Kareeladham Temple in Bina, Madhya Pradesh, in April. Childless couples and those seeking male children throng this temple. If their wishes are fulfilled they employ girls of the Bedia community—who were traditionally involved in the sex trade— to dance at the temple as a gesture of thanksgiving

BediaBinaMadhya Pradesh