This lecture examines the emergent leadership of two female gurus in South Asia who have declared their status as Śaṅkarācāryās (i.e., heads of monastic institutions) based on revelatory experiences. They do this in order to change patriarchal monastic (akhāṛā) culture and challenge entrenched ideas of women’s inferiority in Hindu society. Bringing together ethnographic data and gender studies-centered analysis of their narratives and teachings, the author shall investigate the role and impact of gendered charismatic authority on modern women’s monastic lives.

Prof. Antoinette E. DeNapoli is a specialist in South Asian Hinduism with a focus on asceticism, gender, sexuality, embodiment, authority, modernity, and performance. She also conducts ethnographic research on contemporary South Asian Hindu communities centered around the leadership of female gurus and ascetics (sādhus), contemporary Hindu feminisms, and contemporary female traditions of devotional asceticism and mysticism in North India. Her first book, Real Sadhus Sing to God: Gender, Asceticism, and Vernacular Religion in Rajasthan, is published by Oxford University Press, and her next book entitled, Female Gurus and Grassroots Feminism: The Modern Struggle for Gender Equality in South Asian Hinduism, is underway with Oxford University Press. She is the editor of and contributor to a special journal issue entitled, Gurus, Priestesses, Saints, Mediums, and Yoginis: Holy Women as Influencers in Hindu Culture, with Dr. June McDaniel, which is forthcoming in Religions. Dr. DeNapoli is a Professor of Religion/South Asian Religions in the Religion Department at Texas Christian University, USA.

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