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Showing posts from May 29, 2009


Hindu Sacred Thread Ceremony (Upanayan) for Girl Child – Breaking Traditions for Good

The very mentioning of Hindu sacred thread ceremony (Upanayan), a Vedic practice, for a girl or woman will cause a flutter among orthodox Hindus and traditionalists. For the conservatives, sacred thread ceremony is only for boys and men. But Sejal Amod Ketkar, eight-year-old girl from Thane, went through the sacred initiation rite and the ceremony was performed by a female priest as male priests were not ready to perform the ritual on a girl. The sacred thread ceremony is no doubt part of orthodoxy and there are many Hindus who don’t perform it or rather ignore it. But millions of Hindus also perform the sacred thread ceremony but is limited only to the male members of the community. Why are girls or women kept out of the Hindu sacred thread ceremony? There is no answer to this. It is the practice that is being followed. The only reason for this is that rituals and ceremonies were decided by male members of the society and they just simply kept women out of it for power.