Kolkata: Family holds thread ceremony for late green judge’s granddaughters – Times of India

KOLKATA: Two girls, granddaughters of late green crusader judge Bhagabati Prasad Banerjee, have undergone a thread ceremony, departing from the tradition of only boys undertaking the ritual. The move has drawn applause from a section of society but has also sparked a debate on the symbolism of the gesture and how significant this step is to women’s empowerment.
Sisters Atashi (17) and Boristha (13) Banerjee, one in Class XII and the other in Class VIII, say they are thrilled to have broken the stereotype and undergone the thread ceremony in the presence of relatives and friends on April 15. Both sisters now wear the thread and chant Gayatri Mantra every day.
“Our friends and relatives were surprised. In fact, I was surprised when my parents decided on this. But now that I have been through the ceremony, I feel empowered,” said Atashi, a student of humanities who wants to pursue law.
Calcutta University Women’s Study Centre director Lipi Ghosh hailed the move as “revolutionary” and congratulated the parents for a bold decision. “If the family has viewed this as a means to promote equality and not reinforce casteism, this should be celebrated,” she said.
The girls’ parents — Bhaskar, an advocate at Calcutta High Court, and Anupurba, a PhD scholar and entrepreneur — said they decided on the thread ceremony for their daughters when discussions began about conducting one for their six-year-old son a year later.
“We ourselves confronted the question whether it would be right to deprive our elder children of a ceremony and hold one for the youngest because he is male. Having always encouraged gender equality, would it not send a wrong message of preferential treatment to the male child? Hence, we decided on conducting the ceremony for our daughters as well. I believe my late father, who had stood up against the tradition of bursting crackers on Kali Puja-Diwali, would have backed our decision,” said Bhaskar Banerjee (49).
‘Thread originally for both boys & girls’
When Bhaskar and Anupurba Banerjee decided on holding a thread ceremony for their teenage daughters, not everyone in the extended family welcomed the move. While some didn’t attend the ceremony and a few remarked that it could come in the way of their daughters’ marriage, others advised the couple to refrain from telling everyone that it was a thread ceremony and pass it off as a puja.
But Bhaskar and Anuprabha resused to budge. “This is the first time any daughter in either my in-laws’ family or parents’ family have undergone the thread ceremony and I am glad we took the lead,” said Anupurba, adding that many neighbours had dropped in just to see the customs.
Yogesh Raaj Upadhyaya, an executive committee member of Arya Samaj Kolkata who performed the rituals, said this was the third time in 12 years that he organised such a ceremony for a girl child.
“The threads were originally conceptualised as a kind of uniform for all students — boy and girl — without differentiation of caste or creed. Some time in the middle ages, the idea degenerated centering around women’s safety. As women were confined to the home and later even deprived education, they lost the uniform as well,” explained Upadhyaya.
There were, however, some who viewed the move as reinforcing caste stereotypes. Chandana Baksi, psychotherapist and trainer with special focus on gender and mental health, had mixed feelings regarding the issue.
“It’s in a way inclusive and positive that the ritual is reinterpreted in a way respectful of women and favouring gender equity. On the other hand, it is reinforcing caste stereotypes and leaning on another post-Vedic Brahmanical tradition, which doesn’t sit well with feminism.”
Educationist Nrishingha Prasad Bhaduri felt the act would have been more progressive had the family decided against organising the thread ceremony for even the son rather than upholding a custom for their daughters which holds little significance in modern times.