Women, Priesthood and Religious Rights in Tamil Nadu and Kerala

The minister for Hindu religious and charitable endowments (HRCE) for Tamil Nadu (TN), P K Sekar Babu recently announced the government’s willingness to facilitate resources and training for women who wish to be priests in temples. Termed as a part of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) commitment to “social enginee­ring” to ensure equal opportunities to all, the announcement was made in conjunction with a set of other measures like appointment of archakas from all castes and using Tamil as a language of offering prayers. The announcement tri­ggered a debate on whether women can be appointed as priests in temples that follow the Agama (a certain framework of scriptures that pertains to temple construction, deity worship, installation of idols and conducting of pujas) to which he had responded that “Agama training is a must for women to become priests.” The language he used with its emphasis on “adequate training” and “kno­wledge” comes from the legal history of court judgments regarding reformation of Hindu religion in TN and the chall­enges to it.

However, it has to be noted that while in his first announcement the minister had hinted that women had submitted petitions seeking permission to perform pujas in temples, when he was further pressed in a subsequent discussion on the question of whether women will be allowed to perform prie­stly duties in Agama temples, he had said “let women come forward first” and that the changes will be undertaken only in small temples and after a thorough discussion with the stakeholders.