Sabarimala row: In a first, 2 women below 50 enter temple after SC verdict

The two women had attempted to visit Sabarimala temple in December last year but failed amidst massive protests

Latest News: Two women devotees, below the age of 50 years, have entered the renowned Sabarimala Ayyappa temple in Kerala for the first time, months after the Supreme Court overturned a ban on the entry of females of menstrual age (10-50 years) from visiting the shrine.

The two Keralite women, Bindu and Kanakadurga, who are in their 40s, entered the temple premises and offered prayers at around 3:45 am on Wednesday. They were accompanied by police personnel.

The two women had attempted to visit Sabarimala temple in December last year but failed amidst massive protests.The top court had lifted a traditional ban on entry of women in the barred age group on September 28 last year.

Despite the apex court’s ruling on the matter, a string of protests took place at the Sabarimala temple and its surrounding areas in the state, wherein several women attempted to visit the shrine, but were stopped by Lord Ayyappa devotees.|Read More: BS

Kerala police probes reports of two women entering Sabarimala temple

As per news reports, the women trekked to the hill shrine early Wednesday. A video showed them entering the shrine, wearing black clothes, with their heads covered.

Latest News: The Kerala Police Wednesday was looking into media reports that two women in their forties had entered the Sabarimala temple early Wednesday, sources said. According to TV channels, the two women, Kanakadurga, 42, and Bindu, 44, also claimed that they had entered the holy shrine of Lord Ayyappa. They made efforts to enter the shrine in December but had to return due to protests.

As per news reports, the women trekked to the hill shrine early Wednesday. The video showed them entering the shrine, wearing black clothes, with their heads covered. The police sources in Thiruvananthapuram, quoting DGP Loknath Behara, said details were being collected on the issue.

Bindu, a college lecturer and CPI(ML) activist from Kozhikode district’s Koyilandy, and Kanakadurga, a civil supplies employee from Angadipuram in Malappuram, had come to Sabarimala on December 24 after 11 women activists of a Chennai-based outfit were prevented from reaching the shrine and chased away by devotees chanting Ayyappa mantras. The temple was opened on December 30 for the Makaravillaku festival and there has been a heavy rush of pilgrims.,,,Read Source Business Standard OR BS

Bengal’s Sabarimala: Women not allowed in Kali puja pandal for 34 years

Ever since the worship of the idol began 34 years ago by priests of the Tarapith, a Shakti pith in Birbhum district, women were not allowed to enter the pandal

Latest News: The shadow of the Sabarimala temple row over the entry of women into the shrine has cast its spell on a local Kali Puja committee which does not allow females to enter its pandal amid protests by scholars.

Ever since the worship of the idol began 34 years ago by priests of the Tarapith, a Shakti pith in Birbhum district, women were not allowed to enter the pandal, members of the ‘Chetla Pradip Sangha’ puja committee in southern part of the city told reporters Saturday.

“We wish to maintain the rules which lays down that if any woman enters the pandal during puja, there will be a tragedy in our locality. We cannot break the tradition of the past 34 years,” joint secretary of the puja committee Saibal Guha said.|Sabarimala Temple

The male members of the puja committee and the locality prepare ‘prasad and bhog’ (food) for the deity besides undertaking other tasks.

“Our puja committee has women members, but they don’t enter the pandal as they know it might annoy the deity. They are with men in other tasks like bringing the idol to the pandal and join the immersion procession,” another puja committee member Saheb Das said. Indologist Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri termed such rules as extreme manifestation of patriarchy and misogyny.

Business Standard OR BS