[Last September, however, India’s Supreme Court ruled that all women had the right to worship at Sabarimala, which sits in a tiger reserve in the state of Kerala and draws tens of millions of visitors each year.]
By
Niha Masih
 |
|
In
this Nov. 16, 2018 photo Indian Hindu devotees are pictured at the Lord Ayappa
temple
in Sabarimala in the southern state of Kerala.
(Arun
Sankar/AFP/Getty Images)
|
The women — a university professor and a
government employee, both in their 40s — entered the inner sanctum of the
Sabarimala temple about 3:45 a.m., according to a local news agency that
released video of the visit.
The shrine is dedicated to the deity Lord
Ayappa, who is considered celibate, and tradition forbade women of menstruating
age from entering.
Last September, however, India’s Supreme
Court ruled that all women had the right to worship at Sabarimala, which sits
in a tiger reserve in the state of Kerala and draws tens of millions of
visitors each year.
The verdict set off intense protests by
religious conservatives and Hindu nationalists. The controversy represented a
crucial test for the rule of law in India, pitting a legal judgment by the
nation’s top court against religious custom.
After the ruling, more than a dozen women
between the ages of 10 and 50 attempted to enter the temple. But all turned
back after facing threats and physical intimidation by protesters.
A backlash swiftly followed the news of the
women’s entry into the shrine Wednesday. The head priest shut down the temple
for an hour to carry out a “purification ritual.” Clashes broke out between
protesters and the police in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital, Wednesday
afternoon.
Indira Jaising, a lawyer who argued against
the ban before India’s Supreme Court, said that Wednesday’s visit marked “a
historic moment.” The ban on menstruating women entering the temple amounted to
a form of “untouchability” and gender discrimination, she said.
Bindu Hariharan, 42, a professor of legal
studies, was one of the women who entered the temple Wednesday. It was her
second attempt to visit the shrine: On an earlier try on Dec. 24, she was
forced to return by protesters.
“We did the trek to the shrine just like any
other devotees,” Hariharan said in remarks released to reporters. None of the
other worshipers “had any problems with us visiting the shrine.”
To reach the temple, devotees must walk
nearly three miles uphill, and Hariharan began the trek at midnight. The group
consisted of six men in addition to the two women, who had covered their faces.
Four policemen in civilian clothes also accompanied them. At one point, the
group was questioned by a couple of protesters but simply continued walking.
Prasad Amore, a psychologist based in Kerala
who was part of the group, said the journey was not a political statement. “We
are proud of these women who helped to implement the Supreme Court verdict,” he
said. “We broke the inequality being carried out in the name of God for all
these years.”
The development came a day after Prime
Minister Narendra Modi commented on the Sabarimala controversy in a rare
interview, calling the issue a matter of “beliefs.”
Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata
Party spearheaded the local protests against the Supreme Court ruling in
Kerala, India’s only communist-led state and considered one of the most
progressive in the country.
On Jan. 1, millions of women in Kerala formed
a symbolic wall stretching more than 300 miles, a demonstration initiated by
the state government to highlight the struggle for women’s equality.
Rahul Easwar, an activist leading the fight
against women entering Sabarimala, criticized local authorities for supporting
Wednesday’s visit to the temple. The entry by the two women is “a midnight
drama carried out by the atheist [state] government,” he said. “Even the prime
minister of the country has supported the Sabarimala tradition.”
On Jan. 22, the Supreme Court will hear a
petition challenging its landmark ruling on the temple. The controversy over
Sabarimala is not the first time the entry of women in religious spaces has
sparked debate in India. In 2016, courts ruled in favor of a petition by a
women’s rights group to enter the inner sanctum of a famous Muslim shrine in
Mumbai.
Rajeev Ramachandran in Kochi contributed
reporting.
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