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Hindu Priestess Reimagines Rituals Through Queer Inclusion and Service
Pandita Pratima Doobay is a Hindu priestess from Brooklyn.
Her parents came to New York from Guyana, and their ancestors came from Bihar in India.
As a child, she learned Hindu prayers and rituals, especially those celebrating the power of women.
Later, she realized she was queer and wanted religious spaces to welcome people like her.
She began holding gatherings where people could pray, sing and work for justice together.
In 2018, she led a puja for Sadhana, a group that supports progressive Hindu ideas.
She then began officiating weddings, including weddings for LGBTQIA couples.
She says everyone should be treated as part of one human family, without discrimination based on gender, caste, race or social status.
Pandita Pratima Kushmani Shridevi Doobay grew up in Brooklyn in a Hindu Indo-Caribbean family whose roots trace to Guyana and Bihar, India.
Her childhood experiences with Navaratri and Kanya Puja shaped her belief in honoring the Divine Feminine and challenging misogyny and abuse.
After embracing her queer identity, she began organizing inclusive Mataji Chowki gatherings and volunteering with LGBTQIA and feminist initiatives.
In 2018, she officiated her first public puja through Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus and later became a wedding officiant for LGBTQIA couples.
Doobay says her work is guided by the values of ekatva, ahimsa and seva, while confronting casteism, classism, racism and patriarchy.
- Who
- Pandita Pratima Kushmani Shridevi Doobay, a Hindu priestess and wedding officiant, is the central figure.
- What
- She describes efforts to make Hindu rituals and communities more inclusive of queer people and others facing discrimination.
- Where
- Her work described here began in Brooklyn, New York, and included activities with Sadhana.
- When
- She began organizing Mataji Chowki gatherings and officiated her first public puja in 2018; the account is excerpted from a new book.
- Why
- She seeks to express Hindu values of inclusion, non-violence and service while challenging misogyny, casteism, classism and racism.
Key facts
- Book
- Seeing Equally: An Anthology of Progressive Hindu Voices
- Contributor
- Pandita Pratima Kushmani Shridevi Doobay
- Childhood home
- Brooklyn, New York
- Family heritage
- Guyana and Bihar, India
- First public puja
- June 2018
- Organization
- Sadhana: Coalition of Progressive Hindus
- Guiding values
- Ekatva, ahimsa and seva
Quotes
Navaratri ritual tradition
A teaching described by Doobay as part of the narrative accompanying Kanya Puja during Navaratri
“every woman should be held in high esteem and should be respected and cared for – as they are Shakti”
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Sources
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