Kerala tense as women prepare to enter temple
Thousands opposing court verdict threaten to step up protests
Thousands of devotees joined street marches in southern India yesterday as tensions mounted over a recent Supreme Court verdict revoking a ban on women entering a famous Hindu temple.
The Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala — considered one of the holiest for Hindus — in Kerala state has traditionally barred all women of menstruating age, between 10 and 50.
But India’s top court revoked the ban on women entering the temple in September, ruling that patriarchy cannot be allowed to trump faith.
Those protesting against the court’s decision yesterday, including hundreds of women, warned they would step up their protests before the temple reopens tomorrow, when it will have to allow all women entry as per the court order.
“These protests have taken place in several districts over the last few days. We don’t yet have an exact number but the people ended their march in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram today,” Pramod Kumar, Kerala police spokesman, said.
Local media showed thousands participating in the march supported by the local unit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Afortnight after India’s Supreme Court granted permission for women to go on pilgrimage to the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala — contrary to the longstanding tradition allowing only men entry into the temple — there is no clarity on the likely scenario when the temple opens for prayers tomorrow.
However, one woman from Kannur and a few of her friends have decided that they will indeed make the pilgrimage this season.
The temple had traditionally banned girls and women in the 10-50 age group from entering the temple, on the grounds that their menstrual cycle made them ‘impure’. The court quashed that argument.
Tens of thousands of devotees of Ayyappa deity have held demonstrations in various places in the state, demanding that women’s entry be banned, at least until the apex court takes a call on the review petition filed by some groups that prefer tradition to continue at the temple.
Thousands of BJP activists yesterday marched to the secretariat here to protest implementation of the Supreme Court verdict.
The Communist Party of India Marxist-led Left Democratic Front government in Kerala has said that it has to abide by the apex court’s ruling, and that if women do turn up for pilgrimage, they would be accorded protection as well as the facilities required for the pilgrimage.
Tension has risen for all concerned after news broke out on Sunday about a team of women from Kannur preparing themselves for pilgrimage to Sabarimala, the first women devotees to publicly announce their intention to visit Sabarimala.
Braving the odds
Reshma Nishanth, a college lecturer from Kannur district announced the team’s plan to visit Sabarimala. She declined to give the strength of her team, saying there would be three or four others accompanying her.
She said she and her friends were undertaking the 41-day ritualistic prayers and diet, avoiding fish and meat as well as physical proximity to their spouses, preparing themselves for the pilgrimage. Nishanth was reported as saying that she had “extreme desire” to see the deity, Ayyappa.
Nishanth posted her thoughts on social media, saying “there is no man-woman difference in the matter of faith”. She posted her photo, too, showing herself in the traditional black attire worn by Sabarimala pilgrims.
Shortly after she went public with her plan, a group of people gathered in front of her house in protest on Sunday evening. She said they threatened her, and she had to call for police help.
Nishanth said she had the approval of the court to go on pilgrimage, and the assurance of the state government of protection. ■