Thiruvananthapuram: Two women in Kerala ushered in the New Year with a historic visit to the Sabarimala temple, breaking the long-standing tradition of the shrine that prevented girls and women of fertile ages from visiting the hill temple.
The march of the women, identified as Bindu Hariharan, 42, from Koilandy in Kozhikode district, and Kanaka Durga, 45, from Malappuram district, up to the temple was held in secrecy past 3 am on Wednesday when there were hardly any devotees. Sketchy details available now indicate that they were offered protection by police who accompanied them in black attire that devotees wear at the temple.
The development stunned traditionalists including the erstwhile royal family of Pandalam that is closely associated with the temple’s rituals.
The priests at the temple immediately decided to shut the temple for purification rites, on the ground that women’s entry had polluted the sanctity of the temple. Kantararu Rajeeveru, the tantri, said the temple closed around 10.30 am and opened an hour later.
Ironically, the development comes only a day after many women in Kerala stood in line from Kasaragod in the north to Thiruvananthapuram in the south as a ‘women’s wall’ to promote renaissance values, rational thinking and gender equality.
Within hours of the videos of the two women making the pilgrimage at Sabarimala spread on social media platforms, state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan confirmed the development.
“It is a fact that the women climbed up to the hill shrine. That police protection would be given to women is a matter that had been announced earlier,” Vijayan said.
“Charitra Bindu” (a spot of history), cooed the oldest Malayalam daily, Deepika, shortly after the news broke, punning on the name of Bindu, which means a dot, spot or a drop.
The women’s entry into the temple comes after multiple attempts by women from different states including Kerala to enter the temple after India’s Supreme Court quashed the temple’s all-male tradition in September 2018 stating that it went against gender equality.
Among those who made futile attempts to reach the temple over the past month was social activist Trupti Desai from Maharashtra. Bindu and Kanaka Durga had also made an attempt on December 24.
The whereabouts of Bindu and Kanaka Durga were not immediately known, but the news triggered criticism against them by traditionalists on social media. One of them commented that the women may be seeking “state protection for their final rites, too”.
Bindu and Kanaka Durga, who said they had ‘darshan’ at 3.30 am, had been prevented on December 24 by predominantly male pilgrims from entering the temple.
Women and girls in the age group of 10 to 50 are barred from praying at the Sabarimala temple in line with tradition. This ban was struck down by the Supreme Court in September.
Speaking to the media over telephone, Bindu said she along with Durga reached the Pamba base camp around 1.30 am and along with a few police officers in civilian clothes went up the pathway.
“The government had assured us all help. We reached the base camp and went up the pathway and we had darshan at 3.30 am. We, however, did not climb the hallowed 18 steps, instead went through the way normally used by VIPs,” said Bindu.
“We did not have any problems. Barring minor protests, there was no other issue,” added Bindu.
Rahul Eashwar, a member of the temple tantri family, earlier said that “corrective rituals” would have to be done. He called their entry “most unfortunate”.
Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan said the tantri had no right to close the temple.
“This is a challenge to the judiciary. The government only did its role in upholding the Supreme Court directive,” Jayarajan, considered the number two in the cabinet, told journalists.
“This is a victory for women’s rights. Women have entered Sabarimala temple earlier, too,” he added.
The temple town has witnessed protests by Hindu groups since the September 28 Supreme Court verdict that allowed women of all ages to enter the temple.
Ever since the verdict, around three dozen women in that age group have tried but failed to go up the pathway leading to the temple due to protests.
— With inputs from IANS
How leaders reacted?
Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala called for protests against the Left government. “Vijayan will have to pay a heavy price for this,” he said.
Another Congress leader, K. Sudhakaran, called Vijayan “a fascist” and said the two women who entered the temple were his “puppets”.
“These two women are not believers. They are activists. They never went through the customary rituals that any true devotee does before embarking on the pilgrimage. These women did not have the customary holy kit carried by pilgrims,” he said.
State Communist Party of India-Marxist Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said there was no reason to shut the temple. “Those who should observe the temple rules are themselves violating it,” he said. “The role of the government is to abide by the Supreme Court order and it has done just that. The police did their job of providing security to the women.”
The Nair Service Society’s General Secretary Sukumaran Nair thanked the temple priests for “closing down the temple. We will now follow the legal route against what has happened”.
State Bharatiya Janata Party General Secretary M.T. Ramesh said that Vijayan will have to pay “a heavy price” for violating the temple traditions.
“What they did was to act like cowards. In pitch darkness, they took the two women,” he said, adding that protests would be held in Kerala on Wednesday and Thursday.
BJP activists protested in front of Devasom (Temples) Minister Kadakampally Surendran when he came to attend a programme in Guruvayoor.
Similar protests took place when Health Minister K.K. Shailaja came for a function at her home district in Kannur.
— IANS
