Her Holiness: The Purohitas of Pune, India: Female Hindu Priests as Embodied, Emotional–Spiritual, and Aesthetic (Performative) Laborers

Abstract

Female priests are a relatively new phenomenon in Hindu Indian culture. Positioned as outsiders within, they have been marginalized from the male-dominated priestly profession, even as they continue to challenge normative expectations surrounding their unconventional occupational choice. This study presents findings from a multi-methods qualitative study that, in addition to analyzing media reports about female Hindu priests of Pune city, interviewed 12 practicing priests. Utilizing data-driven lenses of embodied, emotional–spiritual, and aesthetic (performative) labor, findings from this study revealed how participants communicatively and strategically diffused resistance and redefined competence by negotiating contradictory aspects of their professional realities.

Keywords:

• Female Hindu Priests
• Religious Identity
• Emotional–Spiritual Labor
• Aesthetic Labor
• Embodied Labor

Acknowledgments

She wishes to thank her mother, Maya Shenoy, for alerting her to the significance of this topic; Dr. Patrice M. Buzzanell for her enthusiastic support of this project; her 12 participants without whom this project would not have become a reality; and Dr. Shiv Ganesh and the three anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on previous drafts of this paper.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Suchitra Shenoy-Packer

Suchitra Shenoy-Packer is an Assistant Professor in the College of Communication at DePaul University