A housemaker mother who whether intentionally or inadvertently learned the fundamentals of tantric lessons from her daughter and has been desiring to perform prayers herself at the family temple.

This is the tale of a 24-year-old Jyotsana Padmanabhan and her mother Archana Kumari who are etching their names on the footprints of history by silently shattering the glass ceiling of male dominance in priesthood and tantric rituals in Kerala.

Both of these women are performing tantric rites which are in general associated with men in nearby shrines while dressing up like priests at a temple in the Thrissur district of Central Kerala for some time.

This duo didn't want to term their priesthood as a gender equality initiative or something which attempts to break gender stereotypes existing in society.

For them, it's the idea that they entered the priesthood out of devotion without any attempt to prove something in society.

The daughter who is a post-graduate in Vedanta and Sahitya reveals that she had started learning tantra back when she was only seven years old and the dream to don the role of a priest began much before that. She grew up seeing her father conduct puja and tantric rituals and since then this dream started to nurture in her mind although she knew that it was something that women were not allowed to do but she also believed that the Hindu shastras or traditions have evidence of not barring women from performing tantric rituals or chanting mantras. Her paternal grandfather brought her into the boundary of a tantric world.

Jyotsana held the tantric installation of Goddess Bhadrakali at the Painkannykavu Sree Krishna Temple, the ancestral shrine of their family where her father is the chief priest. She used to serve the shrine and perform daily rituals whenever possible. The daughter has been performing these tantric and idol installation rituals in other temples since many years. Jyotsana points out that there should be no objection from the patriarchal Brahmin community against the entry of women into the priesthood and that the women have been many performing tantric rituals from the very past.

Performing the role of a priesthood may be a new thing but women are generally seen to have been performing traditional rituals in many families and nobody had any problem with that.

The mother has also been inspired to follow the similar streak of devotion as adopted by her daughter. The mother used to witness the entire thing when Jyotsana used to come home and discuss about the tantric lessons in detail. Seeing her do the various symbolic gestures, the mother has also imbibed the basics of tantric rituals here and there. The husband or the father in this case has no objection with the decision of both the woman instead he is supportive of their decision.

Now, the mother has also been performing tantric rituals, installation and reinstallation at nearby temples as per the requests of the shrine managements.

Though, it is tough for her to manage the balance the duties of a homemaker as well as a priest, still she is able to do both and is contended with her roles and responsibilities.

During the period of menstruation, both these women stay away from the duties of the priesthood.

Lastly, both the woman reiterated that they have entered the world of pujas and tantra purely out of devotion and not for a struggle against gender inequality.

This mother-daughter duo is now again underlining the idea that at least for matters of God, words like struggle or conflict should not creep in.

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Reference:

• newsable.asianetnews.com