When women used to visit Sabarimala temple

Woman protesters at Sabarimala temple. (Photo: Twitter/@iamsrp007)

Huge uproar followed today after two women aged below 50 years reportedly entered the Sabarimala temple. Identified as 42-year-old Bindu -  a CPI(ML) worker from Kozikhode and Kanakadurga – a Kerala governemnt employee from Malappuram claimed to have entered the Sabarimala temple at 3.45 this morning.

Protests erupted in various parts of Kerala with the BJP joining chorus. The BJP has called a shutdown in Kerala on Thursday to protest entry of women in the Sabarimala temple, which was allowed by the Supreme Court last year in a majority judgment by a bench led by then Chief Justice Dipak Misra.

The full ban on entry of women aged between 10 and 50 years was enforced after a Kerala High Court judgment in 1991. The order came on a petition that was filed after Devasam board commissioner held traditional rice feeding ceremony for his child at the Sabarimala temple in 1990. The ceremony was attended by women of the family and also some relatives. 

The petitioner challenged that entry of women in the Sabarimala temple for which there was a law passed by the state assembly. The law was not strictly imposed and women used to visit the Sabarimala temple, sometimes raking up controversy while at other without much notice. 

The first documented record of ban on entry of women in the Sabarimala temple is found in a survey by two British officials. They conducted the survey in 1820s but the report could only be published in 1890s and 1900s in two volumes. 

The report talked about the belief that Lord Ayyappa should not be visited by women of menstruating age. However, the belief did not necessarily translate into a complete ban on entry of women. 

Records have it that women from the Travancore royal family visited the Sabarimala temple. The queen of Travancore visited the Sabarimala temple in 1940s. It continued, though sporadically, till 1991. 

In 1986, a Tamil film was shot at the Sabarimala temple where actresses including Jayashree danced on a song. It led to a controversy and a fine was also imposed both on the film shooting party and the Devasam board. 

Former Karnataka minister Jayamala later claimed that she had visited the Sabarimala temple the same year. In 1995, a woman district collector visited the Sabarimala temple in order to gather first hand information from the priests and officials of the shrine. 

The matter of entry of women into the Sabarimala temple started making national headlines after a group of activists filed petitions seeking lifting of ban and quashing of the Kerala law that prohibited women from offering prayers at the Lord Ayyappa shrine.