Women priest and Durga Puja: What better way to invoke woman power?

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Durga Puja in full swing, there is a nip in the early morning and evening air, the perfume of Parijat wafting in the breeze, the sound of 'dhaak' drums in my neighbourhood in south Delhi and many-splendoured pandals humming with people and merriment. In the midst of the hubbub, a friend's family puja has an intriguing new feature: women purohits to conduct the rituals and women dhaakis (drummers) to set the rhythms for the invocations and the celebrations.

For the past few years, the introduction of women priests at Durga Pujas have been something of a novelty.

Most people take it for granted that the usual male pujaris — the professional priests — officiate at all religious functions, whether weddings, funerals, naming or «first solid food» (annaprasana) ceremonies and grihapravesh (house inauguration), or any festival days at temples. Durga Puja, albeit celebrating the Divine Feminine, was no exception to this norm.

Why it took so long for the Bengali community and Ma Durga to have woman purohits invoking her is quite puzzling really.

Of course, the first hurdle was that of supply: even if people wanted a woman to officiate, where would they find suitable ones? It is well known that «professional» Brahmin pujaris are of varying competence, primarily because they are products of a hereditary system that has never allowed their 'devout' public to demand uniform levels of erudition.

For the past decade or so, however, a cadre of trained women purohits has emerged, whose knowledge and execution of mantras and rituals is far more detailed than the general run of the mill pujaris. And since Hindu rituals hinge on correct pronunciation and rhythm, these women are overall better suited to conduct ceremonies.