Tamil Nadu played host to a silent social revolution on Friday which scholars rate as more revolutionary in nature than the self-respect marriages of the 1950s.
If the self-respect marriages, launched by EV Ramasamy Naicker (Periyar) hailing from the Mysore Province, were a message against the monopoly of the Brahmins in religious matters, Friday saw another person from Mysore performing a traditional marriage which shattered the barriers to yet another male-dominated domain.
When Vignesh Raghavan, a Chennai youth tied the nuptial knots with Sushma Harini on Friday at Dakshin Chitra, a heritage museum in Chennai suburb, the priest who solemnised the marriage was a woman and it took everyone by surprise.
Till now no one had discussed about the possibility of women priests solemnising marriages in spite of the fact that women pilots guard the skies of the country against possible intrusion from outside. The Pioneer had reported last year about all-women crew of Indian Coast Guard flying along the East Coast and Palk Straits as part of recce missions.
As Vignesh and Sushma, a young lawyer, exchanged rings and garlands, Bramaramba Maheswari, vedic scholar from Mysore officiated as the priest and solemnised the marriage. The marriage venue reverberated with Vedic shloks and mantras recited by Maheswari. What made the event more striking was the pains taken by the priest to explain the meaning of each shlok and mantra to the couple as she moved on with the ceremony.
“One should learn the mantras and shloks by understanding their meaning. Then only it would be effective when you chant it,” Maheswari told The Pioneer after the marriage ceremony. She said there were 16 samskaraas (spiritual culture) associated with human lives from birth to death.
Friday’s marriage involved three steps, viz, Pani Grahanam (holding of hands), Kanya Pradaanam (transferring the responsibility of the safety, security and welfare of the bride to the groom) and Shilaarohanam (ascending of life to the heights of marriage and togetherness from which there is no coming back),” said Maheswari while explaining the meaning of the shloks she recited. When Suresh Reddy, the bride’s father performed the kanya daanam, Maheswari remined the groom with a shlok that what was being done is Kanya Pradaanam and not just kanya daanam.
For Sushma, it was a dream come true because of her commitment to inclusivity and equal representation. “We wanted to have a traditional south Indian marriage with all the traditions and customs but with a difference. I have read that women purohits perform marriages in North India and hence decided to have a woman priest for my marriage too. Since there were no women priests in Chennai our search took us to Dr Maheswari who is well known. She made our marriage meaningful and exciting. All guests told me that they were understanding the meaning of the shloks and rituals for the first time,” said Sushma.
Pandhappalli Gopala Menon, south India’s leading tantrik and vedic scholar said there was nothing which prevented women from becoming priests and solemnising marriages or any function. “The only condition for a woman to solemnise marriages is that she should be a mother,” said Menon. Maheswari is the mother of two daughters, both software engineers. So, yet another male bastion has been broken.
