Guwahati: Women broke another glass ceiling when led by Assam Governor J B Patnaik they last week entered the Vaishnavite `satra` at Barpeta in Assam where they were barred entry for centuries.
The Governor during a visit to the Patbausi Satra of Barpeta on April 4 was shocked to find that women were prevented from entering the seats of Vaishnavite culture initiated around 15th century AD by the revered Assamese saint Srimanta Sankardeva and his disciple Madhabdeva.
Patnaik, a Sanskrit scholar, convinced the Satradhikar, the spiritual head of the Patbausi satra, of the injustice meted out to women for ages by arguing that there was no such
bar as Srimanta Sankaradeva himself, as records would say, favoured women`s participation in rituals.
"I found women standing in groups at the entrance of the satra. They told me they are barred from entering the satra. I convinced the Satradhikar of the unjustness of the
practice by arguing that Sankaradeva never objected to it. So I took 20 women inside and performed traditional prayers,`` Patnaik said.
However, Dhirendra Nath Bayan, president of the Satra Management Committee of Patbausi Satra, said that in 1991 a resolution was passed by the committee to allow women inside the satras, but women themselves preferred not to enter fearing social backlash.
PTI
