Bangalore: The Arya Samaj organized a 'Vedic upakarma' on Saturday and allowed women to embrace the sacred thread. Traditionally, only male Brahmins participate at the upakarma ceremony .

Fifteen women, cutting across castes, wore the thread and recited the holy mantras. The ceremony was also conducted by women.

Organizers said the idea was to make the ceremony more inclusive and dispel dogma that don't foster pursuance of knowledge by women. Arya Samaj secretary Vasudev Rao said going by Swami Dayanand Saraswati's principles, he believed women should not be deprived of knowledge that the Vedas contain. "The Vedas should be accessible to all sections of society. Embracing the sacred thread reflects pursuit of knowledge and understanding the world,'' Rao said.

Vasantha Narayan, a homemaker who was in charge of the proceedings on Saturday, maintained that nothing stops women from wearing the sacred thread. "It's good for the family, the society and the nation as it reflects an equal path to attain greater knowledge,'' she said.

Geetha Ramanujam, an academician who presided over the function, said the Vedas are synonymous with knowledge. "Nothing should come in the way of gaining wisdom. During Vedic period, there was no caste or gender disparity in performing rituals and pursuing knowledge. Women were then on par with men," she said.

"It is unfair that only a section of people enjoy the right to wear a sacred thread. The Vedas are scientific and also help a person in his or her philosophical pursuit. Introspection is the main objective. Why should one be deprived of it? Vedas are not for rishis and men alone,'' she added.

There are three layers to the sacred thread - deva runa, pitra runa and acharya runa. Deva runa explores the reason for existence and symbolizes universal harmony. Pitra runa is for rites related to parents and acharya runa is associated with teachers.

toiblr.reporter@timesgroup .com



Facebook Twitter Linkedin EMail