ALLAHABAD: A gold medallist in college, an Intelligence Bureau official, a professor and finally a sadhvi. The life trajectory of Yogeshwari Katyan Tripathi covers a range one would rarely see.To be coronated as the mahamandaleshwar of Kinnar Akhada on Sunday, Yogeshwari would be the second non-kinnar seer of the akhara to be appointed to this coveted position.On February 11, the akhara had coronated the first non-kinnar, Raajrajeshwari Shiva Priya, as the international mahamandaleshwar (for both men's and women's wing).Coming from a Brahmin family in Palamu district, Yogeshwari completed her initial studies in Sarguja, Chhattisgarh. After completing her elementary schooling, she joined Delhi University's Sri Venkateswara College and was a gold medallist in an undergraduate course.She then completed her diploma in mass communication from the same college and joined the Intelligence Bureau as a wireless in charge.And then as destiny would have it, she resigned from the job and joined a degree college as an assistant professor."But something was missing still from my life. I left this job too and moved to the Himalayas for my sadhana (religious practice)," said Yogeshwari.Later, she came back to Jharkhand and started her social service as the pithaadhishvar of Bageshwari Shakti Peeth of North East India in Koderma."I still remember the pain in the eyes of the poor girls and their parents who wanted their daughters to get married but because of dearth of money and fear of Naxalites, they were unable to do so. There were elders in the village who constantly lived in fear," she recalled. Moved by their sufferings, her quest to find a solution began.Asked about her role towards the kinnar community as a woman, she said, "There is no community or caste of a woman... For the upliftment of kinnars and 'sanathan dharma', there would be more Yogeshwaris ready to serve."Head of the kinnar akhara, achraya mahamandaleshwar Laxmi Narayan Tripathi said, "Yogeshwari is a learned and religious woman and her becoming the mahamandaleshwar of the akhara will go miles in strengthening the 'sanathan dharma' and guiding the members of the akhara."

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