The Case For Appointing A Female Hindu Priest At Your Wedding

When actor Dia Mirza tied the knot with Mumbai-based businessman Vaibhav Rekhi in 2021, her wedding went viral for all the right reasons. Not only did she make the nuptials as eco-conscious as possible, she also eschewed tradition and opted for a female priest to officiate the wedding. More recently, social media celebrity Prajakta Koli drew attention for the same when she appointed a female priest to ordain her wedding with Vrishank Khanal.

The video of the two female priests conducting wedding rituals and reciting sermons got the Internet’s seal of approval, with people describing the act as ‘wholesome’ and applauding the couple for shattering gender-based stereotypes.

“Prajakta was very clear from the beginning that she wanted a female priest for her wedding,” says her wedding planner, Kushal Duseja, founder of the Mumbai-based firm, The Dream Team.

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This got us thinking about why we don’t see many women officiating Hindu weddings and what could be the reason behind it. Here’s everything we discovered…

What Do Hindu Scriptures Say About Female Priests Conducting Weddings?

As per ancient Indian mythology and Hindu culture, females have always been held in high regard. There has been evidence of female saints also known as Rishikas, like Arundhati, Lopamudra, Anusuya and Gargi, who have contributed immensely towards ancient scriptures like the Vedas and the Puranas. They have even presided over pre-wedding and wedding ceremonies held at the bride's home, like Gauri Pooja, Haldi, etc.

Though women have always held a high position as per ancient Hindu mythology and the Vedas, the subjugation of women and viewing them as obstacles happened mostly after the Bhakti movement of the 7th century. Saints began viewing women as an obstacle to liberation, and that's when women were prevented from conducting rituals and customs and restricted to specific roles like managing the house, which still exist today.

In his book Marriage: 100 Stories Around India’s Favourite Ritual, mythologist Devdutt Pattnaik writes, “Through festivals like Teej, Hinduism has always paid attention to womanhood, her role as home-maker and her role in ensuring marital bliss. However, cultures like Buddhism and Jainism saw women as embodiments of temptations and obstacles to spiritual growth. The same belief exists in Nath-Jogi traditions and in many Hindu Bhakti movements. That is why in Brahmin temple rituals, we find men performing all rites, rituals and customs.”

Women Priests In 2025? Yes, Please

The practice of appointing a female priest to officiate wedding ceremonies and rituals has existed for a long while, but due to major cultural and spiritual shifts, we haven’t seen many instances of women priests conducting wedding ceremonies or rituals. With couples like Dia and Vaibhav and Prajakta and Vrishank opting for female priests to preside over their wedding ceremonies, we can see more women's representation in the domain.

According to the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, marriages can be solemnised in accordance with customary rites and ceremonies. However, it does not legislate the gender of the officiant, nor any liturgy.

“Out of a hundred weddings that we organise, hardly one or two couples are insisting on bringing in a female priest to preside over their wedding ceremony. The change is slow, but it has begun. With time, I can see this practice becoming more and more popular,” says Kushal Duseja.

In an interview with NPR, Dr Nandini Bhowmik, founder of Bengal-based charitable trust Shubhamastu, which is run by female priests, spoke about the difficulties she had to face in the early days of her practice. “In the beginning, we got very few calls. People naturally did not believe in us. They thought, 'What will the women do?'” she said, adding (charitably, if we might say so), “You can't blame them, you know? This is such an age-old belief.”

Priestess Chanda Vyas who is also the first female Hindu priestess of UK has a more no-nonsense approach to the practice. “Ancient Hindu scriptures and texts, such as the Vedas and Upanishads, do not specify separate gender-based roles for men and women,” she says. “These are all man-made rules, or let me say, men-made rules as a result of evolution.” Chanda, who has officiated Hindu weddings across the world, describes her initial days as a priestess as challenging and unwelcoming. “When I initially began conducting wedding ceremonies, everyone around me was taken aback that a female could also perform them,” she recalls. ”People were doubtful, but I was not treated any differently from my male counterparts.”

“Women can bear and bring life into this world, which signifies a new beginning. She is an embodiment of the divine feminine responsible for creation, procreation and destruction, necessary for the cycle of life to go on.  Weddings are also new beginnings in life, so who better than having a female priest to conduct your wedding?” she asks.

And that is precisely why you should consider appointing a female priestess at your wedding!