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Sashimani Devi, the last ‘devadasi’ who performed ritual dance at the Jagannath Temple, Orissa, India died on Thursday in Puri at the age of 92.

With her demise, comes an end to a centuries old tradition that was condemned as exploitative by social reformers, Victorian missionaries and the leaders of independent India.

Sashimani came from a poor family, like most ‘devidasis’ and was engaged into temple service at the age of 7 or 8, she said. After she reached the stage of puberty, she was considered a ‘living wife’ of Lord Jagannath and was not expected to marry.

She was  assigned with daily chores like conducting ritual bath of Lord Jagannath and other images of dieties, rubbing the statues with lotion and performing private songs and dances at bedtime, standing at the threshold of the inner sanctum where the images where installed.

According to state records, she was one of about 25 women who was assigned to take care of  Lord Jagannath. Her death was confirmed by Devadutta Samantasinghar, a retired official in the department of culture for Odisha.

Sashimani was ever proud of her status, even though her job was considered as sexual exploitation.

She was the last to perform a dance that had been practiced in the temple for 5,000 years, Samantasinghar said.

"The tradition is over, she was the last to dance," he said, in a telephone interview. "There was a time, an era, which is gone - over - with her."