The devadasi system is offering of girls to the gods in some parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka. It is still prevalent and has become in recent times source of exploitation of lower castes the girls are now a days degraded to the status of cheap prostitutes. The saying in Marathi goes, "Devadasi devachi bayako sarya gavachi", meaning that she is servant of god but wife of the whole town. This is the lot of such a woman. She has to remain unmarried, and maintain herself by ceremonial begging, a system called "jogava" in Marathi, to get both ends meet. With "chal" (a string of small bells) in her feet, she carries the "jag" (a metal mask of god) in a "pardi" (a basket) on her head and begs whole life, or ends up in a brothel.