Kerala not to allow women to visit Sabarimala shrine | Must Watch | sicp
Channel: Sicp
Date: 16/11/2019

Kerala not to allow women to visit Sabarimala shrine | Must Watch | sicp

The Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala on Friday evening. The temple will open on Saturday evening for the annual pilgrim season.

Government will wait till seven-member Bench of Supreme Court takes a final call on review petitions.

The State government will not allow women in the menstruating age group to the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple and instead wait till a seven-member Bench of the Supreme Court takes a final call on a batch of review petitions referred to it for final scrutiny.

The government veered round to this view on Friday on the strength of the legal opinion offered by Advocate General C.P. Sudhakara Prasad. The Supreme Court decision to refer major components of its September 28, 2018 verdict granting unrestricted entry for women of child-bearing age to the temple for another review has offered the government the leeway to defer imposition of the earlier judgment. While hearing the review petitions in October 2018, the Supreme Court explicitly stated that the verdict stands and has not been stayed, but no such specific mention has been made as part of the latest decision. Hence it has been resolved to wait for a final decision, government sources said.

CPI(M) decision

The CPI(M) State secretariat that met here on Friday decided against granting entry of women to the temple. Since many crucial components of the September 28, 2018 verdict had been referred for another review, it was felt that the government should not allow women to the hill shrine, party sources said. It has been clarified that the party has not diluted its stance on gender equality and will firmly stick to its stand to abide by the court decision on the issue. The latest decisions of the government and the political leadership have eased the pressure on the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) which manages the Sabarimala temple.

No special protection for ‘women activists’ at Sabarimala, says Kadakampally Surendran, Kadakampally Surendran, Tourism and Devaswom Board Minister, Kerala

In the wake of the major reversals suffered by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) in the last Lok Sabha elections, the CPI(M) leadership had initiated an outreach programme involving senior leaders to gauge public sentiment and also for a course correction on the basis of the responses. Leaders at different levels conducted house visits and it was found that lack of clarity on the government and party stance on the Sabarimala issue was one of the reasons that led to an erosion of its captive vote base. Such responses had pointed to a compelling need to come clear further on matters pertaining to faith, with due accent on the Sabarimala issue. The leadership is also aware of the moves of the Sangh Partivar to use the issue to its advantage, sources said.

The Sabarimala temple is a temple complex located at Sabarimala inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Pathanamthitta district, Kerala, India.[1][2] It is the site of the one of the largest annual pilgrimage in the world with an estimate of between 40 million and 50 million devotees visiting every year.[3][4][5][6] The temple is dedicated to the Hindu celibate deity Ayyappan also known as Dharma Sastha, who according to belief is the son of Shiva and Mohini, the feminine incarnation of Vishnu.[7] The traditions of Sabarimala are a confluence of Shaivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism, and other Śramaṇa traditions.[8]

The temple is situated on a hilltop amidst eighteen hills at an altitude of 480 m (1,574 ft) above sea level, and is surrounded by mountains and dense forests. The dense forest, part of the Periyar Tiger Reserve, around the temple is known as Poongavanam. Temples exist in each of the hills surrounding Sabarimala. While functional and intact temples exist at many places in the surrounding areas like Nilakkal, Kalaketty, and Karimala, remnants of old temples survive to this day on remaining hills.

In response to a PIL filed in 1991, the Kerala High Court had judged that the restriction of entry of women ages 10–50 to the temple was in accordance with the usage prevalent from time immemorial, and it directed the Devaswom Board to uphold the customary traditions of the temple. However, on 28 September 2018, the Supreme Court of India overturned the restriction on the entry of women, declaring it unconstitutional and discriminatory.

The temple is open for worship only during the days of Mandalapooja (approximately 15 November to 26 December),[9] Makaravilakku or "Makara Sankranti" (14 January) and Maha Vishuva Sankranti (14 April), and the first five days of each Malayalam month.

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