Laughter, Creativity, and Perseverance: Female Agency in Buddhism and Hinduism

Description

In most mainstream traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism, women have for centuries largely been excluded from positions of religious and ritual leadership. However, as this volume shows, in an increasing number of late-20th-century and early-21st-century contexts, women can and do undergo monastic and priestly education; they can receive ordination/initiation as Buddhist nuns or Hindu priestesses; and they are accepted as religious and political leaders. Even though these processes still take place largely outside or at the margins of traditional religious institutions, it is clear that women are actually establishing new religious trends and currents. They are attracting followers, and they are occupying religious positions on par with men. At times women are filling a void left behind by male religious specialists who left the profession, and at times they are perceived as their rivals. In some cases, this process takes place in collaboration with male religious specialists, in others against the will of the women's male counterparts. However, in most cases we see both acceptance and resistance. Whether silently or with great fanfare, women are grasping new opportunities to occupy positions of leadership. This book offers ten in-depth case studies analysing culturally, historically, and geographically unique situations in order to explore the historical background, contemporary trajectories, and impact of the emergence of new and powerful forms of female agency in mostly conservative Hindu and Buddhist religious traditions. Contents Acknowledgments List of Contributors Introduction: Female Agency in Buddhist and Hindu Contexts • Ute Hüsken SECTION 1: RENEWING RELIGION IN FEMALE SPACES 1. Exclusion, Secrecy, and the (Under)ground: Dynamics of Female Religious and Ritual Agency in Kalmykia • Valeriya Gazizova 2. “This Is Not a Home, It Is a Temple”: Creative Agency in Navarāttiri Kolu • Ina Marie Lunde Ilkama SECTION 2: APPROPRIATION OF MALE SPACES 3. Body Politics and the Gendered Politics of Hindu Militancy: Shiv Sena Women and Political Agency in Western India • Tarini Bedi 4. Buddhist “Radicalism”: A Vehicle for Female Empowerment? • Melyn McKay and Iselin Frydenlund 5. Laughing on a Rooftop: Female Buddhist Agency as Local in Lumbini, Nepal • Amy Paris Langenberg 6. Right to Pray: Comparing Shani Shingnapur and Sabarimala • Shefali More SECTION 3: PERFORMING RELIGION PUBLICLY 7. Hindu Women and the Gendering of Religious and Ritual Authority in Trinidad • Priyanka Ramlakhan 8. Tradition, Innovation, and Resistance? Training Girls in Sanskrit and Vedic Rituals • Ute Hüsken 9. “I Will Be the Śaṅkarācāryā for Women!”: Gender, Agency, and a Guru’s Quest for Equality in Hinduism • Antoinette Elizabeth DeNapoli SECTION 4: RESEARCH STRATEGIES 10. Female Agency in Buddhism and Hinduism: Methodological Reflections and Collective Commitments • Caroline Starkey Index