 Due to the destruction of temples by Islamic invaders, the status of the temples fell very quickly in North India and slowly in South India.As the temples became poorer and lost their patron kings, and in some cases were destroyed, the devadasis were forced into a life of poverty and prostitution.During the British East India Company's rule in India in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, it was initially fairly common for British soldiers to engage in inter-ethnic prostitution in India, where they would frequently visit local Indian "nautch" dancers.