DAVANGERE: Even as debates and discussions rage on in the country about the rights of women in places of worship, here is a mutt in Davangere district where women hold the strings -- or rather, the ropes -- at an annual religious event. The annual festival of the Sri Guru Karibasaveshwara Swami Gaddige Mutt at Yargagunte features women devotees pulling the deity’s chariot. It’s only women who perform the task, a practice launched by the mutt eight years ago. In the two-day car festival, held on December 1 and 2 this year, women pulled the chariot for over half a kilometre at the village.
“Everybody speaks about the right to equality, be it in speeches, religious meetings, political events or any other platform. However, women are not yet given the status they deserve in the society,” said Parameshwara Swami, the mutt’s pontiff who has been leading the annual celebrations and encouraging women to participate in the festival and pull the chariot. The initiative is a first of its kind in the state, he adds.
“Nature is a woman. Our mother is a woman. Merely calling her Amma is not enough, we need to give her the status she deserves. Hence, our mutt committee decided eight years ago that in order to contribute to the society and to empower women we must get the mutt chariot pulled only by women,” he says.
Women from various parts of the district, as well as other regions of the state, participate in the annual car festival held on the day of Hasta Nakshatra. “While men get the chariot ready by making all necessary arrangements, women just pull it. Men are on the spot to assist the women, but it is women who pull the chariot for about 600 metres,” says the pontiff.
There is no discrimination in the mutt on the basis of gender, caste and religion, according to mutt committee president Narappa M. “Apart from Veerashaiva Lingayats, people from Dalit communities and backward classes also visit the mutt and take part in the festival. Muslims also lend monetary help to the mutt every year,” he says, pointing out that the initiative is also supported by pontiffs of other mutts.
Panditaradhya Shivacharya Swami of Sanehalli Taralabalu mutt says, “Though India has become independent, the country’s women have not become free from exploitation. However, allowing women to pull the chariot is empowering them. I welcome this initiative.”Women devotees, of course, look forward to the occasion each year. “I’m really happy to pull the chariot,” says Surekha, who has been pulling the chariot since the practice began in the village. “Men may stop pulling the chariot if they sustain an injury but we don’t. We pull the chariot even if it is a difficult task, and we believe it will fulfil our wishes,” she adds.
Rekha, another housewife, chips in, saying that it’s believed that women who do not have children will conceive if they pull the chariot. “We regularly take part in mutt programmes,” she says.
The mutt also allows all the devotees, including women, to seek blessings by touching the deity in the sanctum sanctorum.
The chariot is pulled by women of all age groups, who spontaneously come together for the occasion. “We don’t engage in prior practice or training, and pull the chariot out of devotion,” says Saroja, a local resident, adding that no untoward incident has happened during the event so far. The exuberant environment during the festival, of course, brings the best out of them. “Men get surprised at the way we pull the chariot,” she says.
Reiterating that there should be no restriction over religious practices for women, the pontiff says, “Women know when to enter a temple or participate in religious programmes. There should not be any restriction for them for entering temples just because they menstruate.”
MAN BEHIND THE INITIATIVE
Parameshwara Swami, a native of Karekatte village in Channagiri taluk, was a farmer prior to becoming the pontiff of the mutt. He established the mutt and its temple with the help of devotees eight years ago. The 48-year-old pontiff, who studied till Class 10, is married and has two children who are pursuing higher education.