 Eunuch priests have served various goddesses from India for many centuries.Similar phenomena are exemplified by some modern Indian communities of the hijra, which are associated with a deity and with certain rituals and festivals – notably the devotees of Yellammadevi, or "jogappas", who are not castrated, and the Ali of southern India, of whom at least some are.The 18th-century Russian Skoptzy ("скопцы") sect was an example of a castration cult, where its members regarded castration as a way of renouncing the sins of the flesh.