A Fight for Her Rites
Stories of ordinary women across communities— Hindu, Muslim, Parsi—who rose to challenge the discrimination entrenched in their religions
High Priestess MAHANT DEVYAGIRI, 41 Mankameshwar Temple, Lucknow
In her stark saffron attire, hair encased in matching headgear and a string of rudraksh around her neck, Mahant Devyagiri is a far cry from the young pathology student from Barabanki who stopped by at the Mankameshwar temple in Lucknow and decided to stay on, going on to become its chief priest.
Back then, she was known as Arunima Singh. A bright student, she intended pursuing pathology after Class 12, but her parents were reluctant to send her outside Barabanki for higher studies. Finally, they relented and she came away to Delhi in 1998 to do a diploma in pathology.
A believer in god, yes, but Arunima was never a frequent visitor to temples. After completing her diploma, she wanted to set up her own pathology lab. To understand how they worked, she started visiting such labs in Lucknow. On one such trip in 2000, her family friend, a disciple of the then Mankameshwar mahant Keshav Das Maharaj, took her to the 1,000-year-old Shiva temple on the banks of Gomti. Arunima returned for a second visit, this time on her own. Alone in the presence of the shivalinga, she had an epiphany. “Suddenly everything changed for me,” she says. “I did not want to own a pathology lab any more. I just wanted to stay in the temple.” She came home and told her parents about her decision. After initial resistance, they agreed.
The real challenge for Arunima began now: the Mankameshwar Peeth did not admit women as disciples. “Keshav Das Maharaj stuck to his stance for three months but gave in after I kept returning every morning.” In January 2001, Arunima was initiated into the order as a sanyasin in the presence of five seers. She was also given a new name: Devyagiri.
However, more was in store. In 2008, the ailing Keshav Das proposed her name as his successor. Most of the 57 office-bearers of the temple management trust, the Panch Dashanam Joona Akhada, opposed the idea of a woman taking over a seat that men had occupied for five generations. But the Shankaracharya of Shri Kashi Sumeru Peeth, Swami Narendra Saraswati, supported her. On August 24, 2008, Devyagiri took over as the mahant of the temple. “Women are the stronger sex,” she says. “They can achieve anything they want with their dedication.”