Ever since her birth, the sounds that have been reverberating in her ears were of Tantra scriptures and temple bells. And Jyothsna Padmanabhan followed her heart’s call to become Kerala’s first known youngest and female Hindu priest.
For generations, Jyothsna’s family members have provided priests to a number of major and minor temples in the state. Thus, she grew up in a spiritual ambience. Though there aren’t any known female priests in temples now, in the Namboothiri community, women do carry out pujas for their home deities, usually called thevaram. But as a young girl, she paid close attention and used to recite some chants.
For Jyothsna, it wasn’t just a decision. “It was an awakening,” says the 19-year-old with a bright smile. “Although I started learning tantra from the age of seven, I used to recite what I heard from my father,” she says. It was her grandfather who discovered her interest and her father helped nurture this interest by allowing her to sit beside him.
Although she has done something that is typically considered to be a man’s job, neither she nor her father are interested in terming this as revolutionary. “We don’t want it to be construed as part of any women’s liberation movement. It is not a revolutionary act. We Brahmin women have always performed pujas in our own homes,” she says. “According to shastras sometimes women are more eligible and suitable to do these rituals than men. The womanhood of God and the glorification of women are the core of Tantra. Anybody who is inclined from birth can study with devotion and become a Tantri, irrespective of caste or gender. Those who criticise this cannot prove otherwise,” her father adds.
When asked whether she wants to carry this as a profession, Jyothsna says, “I never learnt this from a professional angle. I wanted to worship and study it systematically. I am pursuing a degree in Sanskrit Vedanta to do research on tantra.” In a changing world, Jyothsna is a positive change welcomed by the locals who pray at the Krishna Temple where she carries out the rituals.
