Women and Sabarimala

"Temple reforms" is a hot topic these days, and the people and the government have been trying to get kshethrapraveshanam for the non-hindus. Thinking about discrimination by temples, the first thing that comes to mind would be Sabarimala; the most famous pilgrimage center in Kerala.

As we all know, there is gender discrimination in temples (against women). Sabarimala goes another step (backward) and says that it wont allow women aged between 10 and 50 to visit the shrine. I did a quick web search to try to understand the "logic" behind this issue and did a quick web search. This post is to share the info that I got from the pages that Google pointed me to.

The most interesting one is the countercurrents article by Raji Rajagopalan which can be found here. It has a list of "reasons" as to why Sabarimala disallows women. They are as follows:

1. The eight kilometer trek to the temple along dense woods is arduous for women;
2. Ayyappa is a bachelor God and his bachelorhood will be broken if he sees a woman;
3. The forty-one-day penance for the pilgrimage, where one must live as abstemiously as a saint, cannot be undertaken by women - they are too weak for that;
4. Men cohorts will be enticed to think bad thoughts if women joined them in their trek;
5. Letting women into the temple will disrupt law and order;
6. Women's menstrual blood will attract animals in the wild and jeopardize fellow travelers;
7. Menstruation is a no-no for God.

If the bullets (1) & (2) are to be believed, women above 50 also should not be allowed. There are other temples which allow women, and thus even (5) is invalid. So, we are left with (3), (4), (6) and (7). Yes, and these are reasons that people speak of in the 21st century!!! In the most literate state of the country. But yes, people have questioned these reasons. (I was unaware of the incidents listed in Raji's posting, but I assume that they are true).

• A mother of two ill children wanted to enter the temple; and she was *arrested* before reaching the sanctum and this ban was upheld by the Kerala High Court in 1990 !!!!
• A bunch of women supposedly tried to enter the shrine in December 2002. And the Kerala HC ordered a probe to see how that happened !!!!!!!!

This Indiavarta article says that this is the only temple in India where women between 10 and 50 are not allowed. A blog entry that I found raises an important point. An extract from that blog is as follows:

• Does the state (centre or state) give any funds to Sabarimala temple or the board? Is the government a board member? Is the government providing security at the temple?
  If they are - then it’s the taxpayer’s money that is going to support an institution that discriminates on the basis of sex. Against the constitution, isn’t it? Especially because it’s not a minorities institution. (I could be wrong here - but am venturing into murkier waters.) That, is not acceptable to me. Cut state funding. Make sure it becomes totally un-cool to go to a temple that is discriminatory.

Time for us to reconsider whether things happening around us are right. I hope that the second set of reforms, which, I believe, is due, would address all these issues.

Towards Temple Reforms, at last

It has been a big issue for ages. Kalamandalam Hyderali wasnt allowed entry to many temples, and Yesudas was never allowed to enter Guruvayoor and many other temples (although Harivarasanam in his voice is played at Sabarimala on a daily basis). I had always believed that temples and their authorities would have to embrace reforms some day or the other. The earlier the better. Every year, in Kerala, this issue keeps coming up. I had blogged on this a year or so back here and that was when the Srilankan delegation entered Guruvayoor and the "purification" exercise was undertaken.

Whether it be due to G. Sudhakaran, or due to Vayalar Ravi, we have started talking about this issue again. And it seems that something concrete would come out of it this time, hopefully. We are definitely inching towards the second temple entry proclamation.

At this juncture, shouldnt we start thinking about the temple reforms at large, rather than just the issue of temple entry to non-hindus. The temples of Kerala do not allow entry to women during "certain" periods, and do not allow women in the age bracket of 10-50 to enter Sabarimala. Even a 4-month old kid's urine is so bad that punyaham has to be performed. All these definitely sound primitive.

G Sudhakaran's words threatening to bring in legislation if the priests do not address the call for reform is definitely the way to go. "Adapt to the changing times voluntarily, or the Govt will see to it that it happens" - a brave move indeed.

My opinion is that the Govt should initiate the second set of reforms, of which the Temple reforms are just a part. Ban on Lotteries and many other things which I will write about later should be part of the second set of reforms.