Author: Fakir Hassen, Durban
Publication: India Abroad
Date: March 20, 2001
The Vedic Priests Academy run by
a South African Indian institution held its annual induction here of priests
and students who are now qualified to conduct basic Hindu rituals and prayers
- all of them women.
That all of the 24 recipients were
female reflected the growing interest in maintaining Hindu traditional
practices among women in the three-quarter million Hindus in South Africa.
The academy, run by the Arya Pratinidhi
Sabha of South Africa, was started in 1954, and has developed its own internal
courses which have produced more than 120 priests over the years, to serve
the temples and communities at towns all over the country where descendants
of the first Indians to arrive here in 1860 now live.
Interested persons follow a three-year
course of weekly classes under the leadership of three priests at the academy,
one of them, Radesh Singh, having undergone training in India as well.
The course ends with both oral and theoretical examinations. They learn
the principles and significance of religious rites and ceremonies and upon
completion of the course, are inducted into the priesthood. This year four
women were inducted as "panditas" (female priests).
In a separate course, people are
taught the basic rituals and how to conduct havans (ceremonial prayers)
for such occasions as weddings, funerals and the birth of children. Those
who complete this course are inducted as "yajaks" or "yajikas". At Sunday's
ceremony, 20 women were inducted as "yajikas".
"It is purely co-incidental that
this year all the graduates were female," said Pandit Singh, who is also
the resident priest at the Arya Pratinidhi Sabha's premises here.
"It's true that females are showing
more interest in recent years, but currently at the classes run at our
three centers here, in Chatsworth and Verulam (both mainly South African
Indian areas), we have a fairly balanced mix of students," he added.
