Women should be the primary priests of the Divine Feminine — yet tradition has sidelined them from the very worship they embody. Rama Kandarpa, daughter of Devipuram’s founder Sri Amritananda Saraswati, shares the extraordinary story of how her father’s personal spiritual awakening gave rise to a revolution in Shakti worship.
A nuclear scientist at TATA Institute, Dr. Nishtala Prahalada Sastry was not spiritual until a morning walk in Hyderabad in 1977 led to a profound darshan of Devi as Bala — an experience so direct that no philosophical doubt could shake it. That encounter led to Devi herself communicating her wish for a temple in Andhra Pradesh, eventually becoming Devipuram — a centre that trains women as priestesses.
The session addresses the central irony: worshipping the Divine Feminine while excluding women from worship. Rama argues that women who learn ritual knowledge naturally extend it into family and society — making female priesthood not just symbolically right but practically transformative.

About the Speakers:
Ms. Rama Kandarpa is a Civil engineer by qualification but a development practitioner by experience. Her primary focus has been on Institutional Development with over 20 years of experience both in the NGO and the corporate sectors. She is also the Secretary of Sri Vidya Trust, Devipuram.
Radha Marthi is Sri-Vidya Sadhak and Yogini. Radha Marthi is the daughter of Guruji Amritananda Natha Saraswati, the founder of Devipuram.

Radha is a SriVidya practitioner engaged in teaching the various courses offered both online and at Devipuram itself. Devipuram is a Hindu temple complex located near Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. Belonging primarily to the Shakta school of Hinduism, it is dedicated to the goddess Sahasrakshi,, a form of Lalita Tripurasundari or Parvati, and her consort Kameshwara (Lord Shiva).