Divine justice? SC to rule on women in Sabarimala

[ganeshbala]

Hi Acumen's

New Delhi: The controversy surrounding women entry in Kerala's Sabarimala temple is threatening to snowball yet again with the state government filing an affidavit in the Supreme Court urging women of all ages be allowed into the Ayyappa temple.


The state government filed the affidavit two weeks ago in response to a Public Interest Litigation pleading that all women be allowed entry.
"We have filed an affidavit in SC. The state government does not favour discrimination of women. We are in favour of women entering the temple. But at the same time, the affidavit makes it clear that because of some peculiar characteristics of the temple and basic facilities and location, it is the right time to allow women's entry. The issue has to be considered separately," says Principal Secretary of Devaswom department, Jayakumar.

Women aged between 10 and 50 years are not allowed entry into the temple as Lord Ayyappa is believed to have taken a vow of celibacy.
Controversy surrounding women's entry to Sabarimala is not new.

Women can't pray


The debate over the entry of women into the Ayyappa temple was rekindled in 2006 when Kannada actress Jayamala said she had touched the idol in the temple 20 years ago.The temple was cleansed after Jayamala's claim that she once entered the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and touched the idol of Lord Ayyappa.Jaimala claims she was "pushed" into the sanctum sanctorum by the crowd and she caught hold of the idol's feet to steady herself.

Jaimala insists that she did not know then that what she was doing was "wrong" and that she had touched the feet of the idol because that was how they prayed at home.She added she had later realised what she had done amounted to sin and had thus faxed an apology to the concerned authorities.
The purification ceremony, called parihara kriyas, was initiated in 50 temples across Kerala and was expected to be completed within two years.
The move snowballed into a political controversy with the Congress party coming out strongly in favour of Jayamala and suggesting the temple be opened to entry for women.

Karnataka Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader S S Patil described the curbs on women visiting the temple as an "insult to the entire womenfolk and nothing but practicing untouchability".The issue even saw Vatal Nagaraj of the Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha staging a walkout.
Few years ago, actress Sudha Chandran had performed a dance programme below the 18 holy steps of the temple leading to a hue and cry.
After the dance performance, the Kerala High Court asked the Travancore Devaswom to disallow women from climbing the hill to the shrine.


SOURCE - ibnlive.com