Women's Religious and Ritual Leadership: Om Shakti in India Communicating Innovation in Contemporary Hindu Tradition

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Abstract

The Adhiparasakthi tradition also known as Om Sakthi, is an India-based goddess tradition focused on achieving both spiritual and humanitarian aims including positive social change. This contemporary guru-led movement, under the leadership of Indian guru, Bangaru Adigalar represents a contemporary current within modern Hinduism that demonstrates women in leadership positions transnationally. The organization’s mission objectives expressly focus on cultivating spiritual and psychological well-being, a practical dedication to improving conditions within human society, and a commitment to the educational and spiritual elevation of women. Central to this tradition is the guru’s directive communicated through aruḷvākku which has implemented an innovative structure of authority instantiating women’s leadership and ritual performance within the tradition. The directive encouraging women to hold positions of leadership has been instrumental in shaping this tradition. The utterance of aruḷvākku or gift of divine speech is generally understood by devotees as a source of guidance and healing from the goddess. These developments have been embraced and have helped expand the purview of women’s religious expression and agency. This paper is based on ethnographic fieldwork in 2017 and 2019 at the Adhiparasakthi temple in Melmaruvathur, Tamil Nadu, India, the primary temple to the goddess in the organization’s founding location. This paper examines the ways in which a priority consideration for humanitarian equity promoted within the Adhiparasakthi organization has both modified and challenged traditional views of gender and religious authority from within a religious framework.