Marriage, Sexuality and the Female Ascetic-Understanding a Hindu Sect

An analysis of the Brahma Kumari sect in its initial years enables us to unravel certain hidden aspects of Sindh society which account for an unprecedented but successful patriarchal attempt to regulate and rest rain female sexuality or stimulate its self- restraint under the all-encompassing claims of reforming society. In the later years, with the coming of the partition and subsequent migration to India, this sect, confronting a greatly changed social milieu, assumed a somewhat different focus and identity. Despite this shifting of emphasis and consequent contradictions, the core doctrine of celibacy has remained and its advocacy of female sexual control continues to find receptive echoes.