Call for women to have freedom of worship

WHILE Hindus around the globe observe Navarathri – the festival of nine nights dedicated to goddesses – local temple officials have been urged to rethink the practice of banning women from entering the inner shrine.

Radio personality and Tamil scholar Mala Lutchmanan said it smacked of hypocrisy that women were willingly used to perform chores at temples yet were barred from entering the sanctum sanctorum.

Speaking at the Shree Emperumal Temple in Croftdene, Chatsworth, Lutchmanan said it was time women were accorded “emancipation in worship”.

“During this period of Navarathri, when the female deities Durga, Luxmi and Saraswathi are worshipped, I call upon temple priests and officials to commit to reforming the rules that have traditionally discriminated against women.

She said it served no purpose praising the fearless and virtuous qualities of Goddess Durga when “our mothers, wives, daughters and sisters are treated like temple outcasts”.

“Women clean the temple lamps and brassware, they make garlands for the deities, they wash the clothes that adorn the idols and they cook the meals for devotees.

“Yet when there is a religious ceremony, women must worship the deities from afar as if they are sub-human.

“I challenge anybody to provide me with scriptural evidence that propagates discrimination against women in places of worship.

“The problem is that temple officials who are supposed to govern our temples – and not the priests – belong to the old school and have reservations about going against tradition and questioning illogical customs.”

Lutchmanan said it was ground-breaking that last month a panel of five judges struck down the age-old ban on women between the ages of 10 and 50 entering the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala, India. “The judges said women have the constitutional right of equal access to public places of worship to pray.”

The Supreme Court ruled that women, irrespective of whether they are menstruating, have the right to enter the temple which is over 800 years old and is the spiritual house for Lord Ayyappa. The temple, located on a precipitous mountain in a tiger reserve, attracts millions of devotees annually.

Dipak Misra, India’s chief justice, said Sabarimala Temple’s female restrictions could be considered essential for religious practices. He said patriarchy should not stop people who express pure devotion, nor should it hinder their freedom to profess and practise their religion.

“Our local temple officials must move with the times. They must take a leaf out of the Sabarimala judgment and open our temples to all women to worship freely,” said Lutchmanan.