LUCKNOW, INDIA, March 11, 2005: Perhaps for the first time, an American woman has been ordained a high priest in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi. Sai Ma, renamed Laxmi Devi Chalanda Sarvanandmayi Ma, was declared “Mahant Mahamandleshwar” or chief priest, according to a report appearing in a Varanasi Hindi daily. The announcement followed a special ceremony performed by leading sadhus of the Manikarnika ghat on the banks of the river Ganga. The ceremony was presided over by Mahamandaleshwar Vishnuswami Yamunacharya, head of Satua Baba Ashram. Sai Ma’s disciples from the US, Australia, France, Italy and Germany flew in to participate in the ceremony. The woman priest then formally converted her disciples to Hinduism and gave them Hindu names.
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