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PUNE, INDIA, July 7, 2002: As the demand for priests to perform certain rituals has increased, the supply of male priests has dwindled. Often young men do not follow in their father’s footsteps and have taken up what they feel to be more lucrative careers. Hence in 1990, an organization call Jnana Prabodhini started training both women and men in the priestly arts. Over 800 people to date have completed the training. After completing a three-month priesthood training class, graduates from JP can perform rituals such as weddings, various pujas, and the rites of passage after death. Another organization called Shankar Seva Samiti has been training women to become priests since 1976. After one year of traditional training, SSS priestesses now numbering 7,000, serve all castes and are from all castes themselves. The two organizations have taken a different approach to their training, SSS a traditional one and JP a modern participatory one. Regardless of their training, women priests are very much in demand. As one patron put it, “They do not take short cuts while performing rituals, explain the meaning and always have time.” See also next story.

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