2 more Vasai women assert rites, enter purohit samaj

MUMBAI, September 28: In January, two women from Vasai taluka stood at the confluence of two seemingly conflicting worlds. But Durga Shir...

MUMBAI, September 28: In January, two women from Vasai taluka stood at the confluence of two seemingly conflicting worlds. But Durga Shirodkar and Saraswati Shrivastav couldn’t have made a more momentous – and fulfiling – decision. Ordained as purohits, they entered the rarified precinct of the Purohit Samaj, embracing what only two other women from Vasai taluka before them did a year ago.

All four mahila purohits, residents of Manikpur in Vasai tehsil, performed the Ganesh puja for the first time since their training under the tutelage of purohit Suresh Bhole. Now, they have been blooded to perform the Satyanarayan puja, which each purohit conducts at least 150 times a year.“There is an urgent need for purohits in the taluka. Hindus from here have to travel to distant places in search of a purohit to perform religious rites. At times, they have to wait hours for a priest to arrive,” says Bhole, who took up his vocation nine years ago. “I tried to find men to train, but received no response. So I madethe offer to women. For the first time in January last year, 20 women volunteered for the training at the Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal (which includes Manikpur, Dewanman, Navghar and Barampur comprising a population of about 50,000),” Bhole told Express Newsline.

Medha Bharadwaj and Alka Pethe, the only candidates selected from the 20 trainees in January 1997, completed their year-long training in December though they have been practising as purohits since January 1998. They also set a precedent as the first two women priests in Vasai taluka. Shirodkar and Shrivastav are the only two women currently training under Bhole. Both are unmarried but have careers which keep them busy for the better part of the day.

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Shrivastav, a primary school teacher, recalls attending a Ganesh puja along with her colleagues two years ago. The ceremony had been delayed by about six hours till the harried organisers finally located a priest to preside over the rites. “It was then that I decided to become a purohit,” shesays.

“I felt that priests should be accessible to anyone who needs their services. My parents and friends readily accepted my decision and encouraged me. So, here I am,” she smiles.

“I too was prompted to become a purohit due to the increasing demand. My grandfather was a priest. So, my family accepted my wish very easily,” says Shirodkar, who is employed with a newspaper firm in Mumbai.

Both Bharadwaj and Pethe also encountered no opposition. “My husband and children happily accepted my decision. My husband also gave me the confidence I needed to fulfil my ambition,” says Bhardwaj, a housewife. Pethe echoes the sentiment.

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All four mahila purohits performed Ganesh pujas for the first time during the recent Ganapati festival. Bhardwaj and Pethe have also performed several Satyanarayan pujas while Shirodkar and Shrivastav are on the threshold of performing the widely-practised ceremony. But does their religious vocation conflict with their more worldly obligations? “Since we became purohits, wehave not been affected by worldly temptations as self-control comes automatically to us now,” explains Shirodkar.