A Debate Over The Ban On Women Entering Sabarimala Temple
Sabarimala temple is a Hindu temple located on a hill in Pathanamthitta district of kerela. The temple is dedicated to the Ayappa, The God of Growth. It is believed that at this place Lord Ayappan meditated after killing the powerful demoness, Mahishi. Pilgrims of our country as well other countries come to pay a visit to this temple. However most of them are the people of Kerela, Tamil-Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra-Pradesh. It is believed to be the largest annual pilgrimage in the world with an estimatation of around 50 million devotees visiting every year. The pilgrims have to reach the temple after going through various treks in the deep forest as vehicles cannot go there. The temple is open for worship only on the days of Mandalpooja in November-December, Makar-Sankranti on 14th January, Maha Vishuva Sankranti on 14th April and the first five days of each Malayalam month.
Sabarimala is a hot topic nowadays and we see every political party or bureaucrats on television debating about it every hour but without a base. No woman was allowed to enter the temple since centuries till the Kerela High Court gave a verdict of restricting of women from the age of 10 to 50 as it is considered as the general age-period of menstruation of women in 1991. And after 27 years of this verdict on 28th September 2018, The Supreme Court of India lifted the ban on women entering the women stating that discrimination against women in any way is against the constitution, even in any religious matters.
All these baseless arguments are going on since when the Apex court of our country gave a judgement that all pilgrims regardless of gender and even including the women who are in the age of menstruation can also enter the temple without anyone's permission. As the ban on women was violating their fundamental right- The Right to Equality under Article 14 and The Right to Freedom or Religion under Article 25, the bench of Constitution said that there should be no violation of Constitution because of biological differences. This judgement did not help women as there were protests and assaults against women entering the temple. Right after the verdict was given devotees; both men as well as women in large numbers gathered and blocked some of the State Highways and National Highways. There were even threats of doing suicides if a woman entered the temple. However on 2nd January 2019 at around 3:45 am, two brave women named Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga tried and succeeded in entering the temple with the help of the police. The temple was closed for one to two hours after they got to know about it and was opened only after the ritual of 'purification’ process that was held by the tantric (the main priests). Some believe that Lord Ayappan was a brahmachari and that’s why they shouldn’t let women enter the temple whereas some believe that if a women bleeds then she is considered impure and that is why they held this process which was a very humiliating thing to those womens’ dignity.
I think that this issue was basically of gender discrimination but our political parties entered religion into it. And as you know elections are near, it can also be a tool to be used in the politics for some parties. None of them tried to understand the issue or give any genuine opinion on any strong base. They only gave vague answers in the interviews and debates in the news having heated baseless arguments. Sabrimala and Ram Mandir are two issues that take the place in newspaper somehow nowadays.
The history of sabrimala restricts the women entering the temple. Even the two centuries ago, this discrimination was there but none of the women protested and accepted it as their fate. But still many women managed to enter the temple. Women entered the temple because of rice feeding ceremony or for puja for their children. Even for shooting movies, actresses have to enter the temple but none of them was allowed to enter the sanctrum. The actresses were fined Rs. 1000 to shoot there. Then after some years, Kerela High Court gave the verdict that women are not allowed to enter the temple. They believed that there is no violation of any right and it is not again any particular caste or community and not even against the women as the women of age before hitting puberty and after the menopause can enter. Only the women who are in the age of menstruation cannot.
In 1990, petition was filed against the entry of women in Sabarimala. The verdict came in 1991, where Kerela high court banned entry of women following under the age group of 10-50 years (i. e menstruation period). They justified their statement saying that,’ There is no violation of rights in this and even the judgement is not against some cast or another section of the society. It is just that women who are of the age where they menstruate should not enter the temple. ’ It is in respect of Lord Ayappa as he celebrates celebracy. Women who are below 10 years and who don’t menstruate anymore can enter the temple with all respect.
All of this leads us to the big question here, “Should the judicial bodies or political parties interfere in the traditions of the temple and the faith of the pilgrims?”
As per my view, the decision taken by The Supreme Court of India was absolutely correct. There must not be any kind of discrimination for any sex, caste, age, race, color, etc. Until all the rules, regulations and traditions are upheld correctly all the women must be granted entry to the sabarimala temple. Women of all ages must be granted entrance to this pilgrimage. There must not be any discrimination in worshipping the God. Each and every human has the right to believe and worship his God.
‘Menstruation or periods’ – These kinds of words are whispered in low voice when used in our country. Menstruation or periods are considered to be making the women impure physically. Various myths regarding the menstruation period of women are there. Women aren’t allowed to touch anything in the house when they are in periods. This myth has to stop someday. We don’t bleed by choice, we don’t have any choice or preference in that. I being a girl have also faced such myths that we must not worship god, we must not touch anyone, we must avoid touching various things in our house, etc. when we are impure i. e. in periods.
Periods are not a bad thing, they do not make women impure. People in the society needs to improve their thought process. They have to come out of their orthodox mindset. This nation needs to have a wider and better thoughtful thinking. Stopping the women to worship when they are in the menstruation age is not the rightful thinking and is also against the right to equality present in the constitution. For some might think that it is their belief from centuries ago so it should be respected and it should not be changed and let it remain the way it is, the rules that takes the right to worship our god from us aren’t meant to be tradtions anymore.
The verdict that was given by the Supreme Court was a decision given by a panel of five members of the court. The verdict was in the favour of women of all ages can enter the temple, however it was surprising to see that the verdict that was given by the panel in that the only female member on the panel didn’t gave the nod on the matter at hand. According to her statement given she didn’t entertained the petition as she thought that notions of rationality cannot be invoked in the matters of religion. What forms the religious practices there should be left to the religious community to decide and the court should not interfere in it, and also present judgements wont just be limited to just the sabarimala temple, but will have a nationwide effect on other communities/pilgrimages as well. All of us were shocked to see that this statement came out from the only woman in the panel that took the decision. However the majority was on the side of letting the women of all ages to let be entered on the temple.
Sabarimala is a pilgrimage which is on top of the hill and women were not interested in going there because they thought it will be disrespectful as Lord Ayappa celebrated the celebracy. They even made excuses saying that there is no proper sanitation facility on the way to Sabarimala temple and as it is located high on the hill, it is not easy for women to walk up till there. People made many claims as to how it is not that easy to reach there and worship the Lord. Despite of all these attempts to stop woman two brave woman gathered all the courage and went inside the temple fearlessly. It was one of the bravest acts I have ever seen in my life. Having known that they might face some serious criticism and hatred from the pilgrims there they took the step. It was a very courageous act by those two women. People of our country are in a dire need of improving their thought process. They must understand that just by bleeding blood, a woman is not to be considered impure or dirty.
Sabarimala issue is not limited to the religion but even the political parties are playing their game through it. Kerala government thinks that BJP is doing for the elections as they are not expecting much from North so they want to compensate those votes from South. Even in North there is an issue going on about Ram Mandir and no decision is yet taken but still we see everyday on television the baseless arguments which includes politics in it. As BJP is in support of Hindus, other parties think that they are not secular and are being bias. In India, almost all issues are judged by religion basis which is wrong at all. The issue of Sabarimala is about gender discrimination and not about which community is right or wrong. Political parties should understand this and instead of pulling each other legs in public and making a small thing a nuisance, one should stand for what is right. They should not use religious sentiments for their own political gain. Political parties by keeping aside their position and power should think like a human first. After all humanity makes the world a better place to live. These heated debates on television should be stopped as they are useless and makes the situation havoc. These debates provoke public to do riots which leads to destruction of many things.
At last I must say that having a clean and clear heart is much more important than seeing as to if she is in the menstruation age or not, the management of the temple must need to change their perspective without hurting the sentiments of any pilgrims and also letting all devotees including women of all ages enter the temple and worship Lord Ayappa as any normal male devotee can do. And not just Sabarimala but in each and every house this perspective needs to change. Every man must take a stand for the women in their family so that they wont feel ashamed of saying if she is in periods, for this isn’t a punishment but a nature’s rule that willingly or unwillingly comes every month for a period of 3-4 days making the women loose their blood and also face much physical pain and problems.
