Indian City Opens Doorway to Female Hindu Priests

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Indian City Opens Doorway to Female Hindu Priests

 

While women are barred from Hindu temples in some other

parts of India, women in the city of Pune are studying the

priesthood at two schools and conducting ceremonies.

Eighth in a series on the changing role of women in India.

 

02/26/08

By Gagandeep Kaur

Women's E-News

Pune, India

 

This year, Preeti Agarwal, a 30-year-old housewife, broke

tradition during the Feb. 11 rituals to worship the birth of

Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge.

 

For the first time, she invited a female priest to her home to

conduct the ceremony, or " puja, " to mark the auspicious day

when children learn to read and write their first letters or

words. Families dress in yellow--symbolizing spring and the

blossoming of mustard flowers--and gather to pray for the

blessing of knowledge in an elaborate ceremony set to

background chants and drumbeats.

 

In the past, Agarwal has followed customary practice and

invited a male priest--known as a pandit--to observe the

tradition.

 

" Most of the time, a pandit would be so busy that he would

just chant the mantras and finish his job and leave, " says

Agarwal. " He wouldn't explain the meaning of the mantras

or the meaning behind the rituals. This is not the case with

women priests. I first saw a woman conducting religious

rituals at a friend's place and was impressed. I decided that

the next time there was a puja at my place, I will invite a

woman priest only. "

 

This year, the puja was different, she says. Her 7-year-old

daughter asked lots of questions and Sunita Joshi, the

female priest who conducted it, answered them all patiently.

 

Agarwal lives in Pune, a city in the western, progressive

part of India where women are joining the priesthood even

as they are barred from entering temples in other parts of the

country.

 

Pune led the effort in India to draw girls into school and

educate them, and was also one of the first cities to allow

widows to remarry, a concept that was once largely absent

in traditional Hindu culture.

 

Although a few women have trained as pandits in the

southern city of Hyderabad, Pune is on the vanguard. While

Hinduism does not technically bar women from becoming

priests, it is not accepted as standard practice in most of

India. Even in Pune the idea is novel, and people have taken

time in accepting it. Women who have taken up the work

have faced strong resistance from male pandits.

 

Formal Training in Women's School

Pune's revolution to allow women into the priesthood began

in the early 1980s, when Shankarrao Thatte--owner of a

premier marriage hall in the city, the Udyan Karyalaya--

launched the Shankar Seva Samiti, a school to train female

priests.

 

The casual approach of the male priests toward the rituals

and ceremonies prompted Thatte to start four-month training

courses for women. Today, Pune has two schools for female

priests, Thatte's Shankar Seva Samiti and Jnana Prabodhini.

 

Vishwanath Gurjar, who heads the priesthood division of

Jnana Prabodhini, says that women have an equal right to

" moksha, " the Hindu concept of the liberation of the soul

from the continual cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth.

According to him, there is nothing in the scriptures to

suggest that women are not equal to men.

 

Says Gurjar: " It is only the mindset of people that stops

them from accepting women in certain roles. " His school

started out with three-month courses for female priests and

has since expanded to eight months. So far, 12 classes of 30

to 35 students each have completed the course.

 

Personal Interests, Professional Gains

Interest in the scriptures and rituals of worship are generally

the inspiration for women to study the priesthood, says

Gurjar. Some do it for their personal education, others out of

interest in the profession. Pandits earn a fee for each ritual

they perform, ranging between $1.25 and $3, but customers

also tip them a little extra if they are happy with the rites.

 

Sandhya Kulkarni, a scholar and " purohit " --another word

for pandit--started practicing professionally some 10 years

ago. She has completed a doctorate in Sanskrit, the classical

language in which the most important Hindu scriptures are

written.

 

" Initially I decided to study scriptures because I was very

interested in the Sanskrit language, " she says. " Later I

developed a genuine interest in the priesthood and decided

to take it up as a profession. Apart from that I also felt that I

should not blindly follow the rituals but should know the

reasoning behind them. "

 

Hinduism is the world's oldest major religion and contains a

vast body of scriptures, which contemplate mythology,

philosophy and theology and expound on the practice of

religious living. The important scriptures include the four

Vedas, as well as the Manusmriti, Ramayana, Bhagvad Gita

and Mahabharta. Primary tenets include moksha and karma,

the belief that actions have subsequent reactions. The divine

takes many forms and rituals are often observed at home on

a daily basis.

 

Women have made headway in routine religious rituals like

marriage; the thread ceremony, a rite of passage for boys; or

the house-warming ceremony. But rituals and ceremonies

related to death still continue to be observed only by male

pandits. Kulkarni is one of the few female priests who has

conducted death rites, partly because women are by tradition

not allowed to enter the cremation ground and cremation

itself is done by the male members of the family.

 

Shortage of Men for Festivals

Initially, women were invited to conduct rituals only when

male pandits were unavailable during the hectic festival

season, from the end of August to November. Many a time,

female priests found the appointment canceled because an

elderly member of the family objected to them.

 

" There is a marked difference in the attitude of the people in

the last three to four years, says Kulkarni. " There is an

increased acceptance of women priests in the city now. In

many instances, they are preferred over male priests.

Women do it with a sense of mission and that is the main

difference. People appreciate that we explain the meaning of

chants and mantras. "

 

Their acceptance as pandits has been eased by a recognition

that the priesthood did not come to them by inheritance, but

rather as a result of genuine interest and hard work to prove

their worthiness. When men inherit the job they do not

necessarily receive an education or training, and there is a

general disaffection with male pandits among some Indians

who believe they take the work for granted.

 

Female priests do face some cultural barriers. For instance, a

menstruating woman is considered impure and is

traditionally not allowed to enter a temple or to take part in

rituals. The female pandits keep that in mind and don't

conduct any rituals during those days.

 

Madhuri Karavade has been a purohit for the last seven

years.

 

" My in-laws are very traditional and I didn't know much

about the rituals so I decided to come here to study, "

Karavade says. " I liked it so much that I took it up

professionally. "

 

She says her most satisfying moment came when she was

able to conduct the " upnayan " rite, which initiates a young

boy into Hinduism. Her ceremony included both boys and

girls.

 

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/3506/