by ANAND CHANDRASEKHAR
More and more women are receiving priest training but few Hindu temples allow them to perform ceremonies PHOTO/AFP
It’s Friday and Mala Jayakumar is busy making preparations for the weekly ceremonial worship of the Saivanerikoodam Hindu temple’s principal deity Shiva. Few outsiders know about the colourful temple hidden behind the glass façade of the very modern-looking House of Religions in Bern.
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Questioning tradition
The idea of ordaining women priests in Bern came about as a result of interactions with curious non-Hindu visitors to the multi-faith House of Religions.
“They used to ask me why caste is so important or why prayers are not performed by women,” head priest Tharmalingam Sasikumar said. “These questions got me thinking.”
He went on a pilgrimage to India and Nepal to discuss the issue with scholars and religious leaders and came to the conclusion that there was nothing in the scriptures that expressly forbade women from serving as temple priests.
Sasikumar then made an open call to women in the local community to volunteer for the role of priests and Jayakumar was among the four women who accepted the challenge. She had left Sri Lanka for Switzerland 30 years ago to escape the ethnic conflict raging there.
“When I first came to Switzerland I felt very isolated and nostalgic,” she says. “There were no places to worship.”
She joined as a temple volunteer ten years ago, performing small jobs like greeting visitors and cleaning the premises. “I had no problems becoming a priest, as I always had great love of God and the temple. What I am doing feels right and gives me meaning in life.”
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