Nandini Bhowmik, 66, has been doing her bit to shake up Hindu society since 2009. Her daughter’s wedding was the first one she officiated as a priest. “Both families agreed, though nobody had heard of such a thing,” she says. “Not all the guests were satisfied.”
The Sanskrit scholar-professor, Indologist and priest says she “spreads human values through religion”. In a country where identity is employed every day to divide people, Bhowmik uses her teachings to unite the younger generation and, through them, their families.
“Actually all religions speak of the same thing, the path is different but everyone speaks of human welfare,” she says. “My deliberations and explanations also point that way.” The 2020 Bengali filmBrahma Janen Gopon Kommoti, about a woman priest who smashes patriarchal prejudices, was inspired by her.
Nandini Bhowmik
Shubhamastu, the name of the charitable trust she co-founded in Kolkata all those years ago with her college friend Ruma Roy, could easily be seen as their gift to couples who want to marry irrespective of caste, religion, or nationality. Its tagline is, appropriately, ‘Priests for humanity, priests for a better society’. Now they are a team of 19 priests and devotional singers, all women, who officiate some 170 weddings every year, in addition to other ceremonies. “Young people contact me on their own,” says Bhowmik. I can see why they are drawn to her. What’s more comforting than an erudite grandmother with progressive values?
Using Vedic mantras to write a new script, Bhowmik transforms the wedding arena into a space that gives women a more equal start in the marital journey.
Honouring all religions
Bhowmik’s own grandmother was an early mentor. “She was an enlightened woman. She always taught me to keep my head high, that women should have honour, and whatever you do, you do with dignity and based on sound education,” she says. “I try to follow her wisdom every day.” Progressive teachers and a father who became asanyasiwere her other inspirations.
Bhowmik does her bit to spread light among young couples. “The world is full of negativity,” she says. “In many instances, the children want us to talk to their parents and convince them, so I do that,” she says. “And most times I succeed, but in a few I don’t and the wedding gets cancelled.”
The Sanskrit scholar-professor, Indologist and priest says she “spreads human values through religion”.
Interfaith couples often contact her for the Hindu ceremony. “They give honour to both religions and thanks to them, the older generation learns to think with an open mind,” says Bhowmik who has travelled across India and the world to conduct these rituals.
Using Vedic mantras to write a new script, Bhowmik transforms the wedding arena into a space that gives women a more equal start in the marital journey. She doesn’t believe in any auspicious time or date (every day is equally auspicious) or that a woman’s menstrual cycle makes her impure. Ceremonies are stripped of sexism and don’t include rituals such as thekanyadaan, where parents hand their daughters over to their future husbands as if they are property. Phrases such as ‘I will provide’ become ‘we will provide for each other’. Here, grooms don’t ask brides to take charge of the family and children. Instead, they wish each other good luck and pledge joint responsibility for household chores.
India has thousands of women priests and even state-managed temples and local festival organisers now invite them to lead.
One with the scriptures
“I have ensured that the bride can get married with equal dignity and honour,” says Bhowmik. In her ceremonies, a woman doesn’t lurk behind a man, only following as he leads. The couple participate equally in every ritual. “They walk side-by-side around the ritual fire too,” she adds.
India has thousands of women priests and even state-managed temples and local festival organisers now invite them to lead. In 2021, Bhowmik, Roy and the other two members of their core team, Seymanti Banerjee and Paulomi Chakraborty, became the first women to conduct the ritual Durga Puja prayers at 66 Pally, a prominent Kolkatapandal,which had a Theyyam-themed idol last year. Bhowmik’s work has had a ripple effect in her neighbourhood. “In Kolkata and its outskirts, there are many women priests,” she says. “I know three-four groups personally.” Her main advice to them is to keep studying the scriptures, as she does daily.
At Shubhamastu, the priests, all of them Sanskrit scholars, conduct ceremonies in groups of three or four, incorporating Rabindra Sangeet in all the celebrations. “Music has a language of its own,” says Bhowmik, who translates all the chants so everyone can understand and appreciate the words. A wedding ceremony typically lasts one hour, against the 2 to 3-hour ceremonies conducted by many male priests. “I don’t think they even know the meaning of some of the mantras they have learnt by heart,” she says of some male priests.
Of course, she faced her share of opposition from this group in the early days, when they told people that what she was doing was sinful and would definitely have consequences. Seventeen years after she began her journey down this spiritual path, the consequences are visible for all to see and appreciate.
The writer is a Bengaluru-based journalist and the co-founder of India Love Project on Instagram.
