Sabarimala: Women's fight for equality & accessibility

Two women below 50 walked into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala before daybreak on Wednesday, becoming the first to do so since the Supreme Court ordered the end of a decades-old ban on women of menstrual age entering the shrine. The temple shut down for ritual “purification” briefly before reopening to devotees.

-          NDTV 03-Jan-2019

Sabarimala Temple, Kerala

This was not the first attempt by women of the restricted age group rather many women had tried and stopped by protesters after Supreme Court's  order but, Bindu (44) and Kanak Durga (42) made this time.

Well, why is entry of women of age group 10 to 50 are not allowed to worship in the Sabarimala temple? It is because of the belief that, Lord Ayappa is unmarried and in life long celibacy. As the mythology says Mallikapurathilamma fell in love with him and wanted to marry him but, he denied saying he will marry her only when when there is no first time devotee. Since then Mallikapurathilamma has been waiting for him. Mostly the devotees say the entry is restricted to the particular female age group because of celibacy of deity Ayappa, which I strongly condemn because, this very statement raises question on the very existence, character and ability of Ayappa. In the other hand it shows women as a sex object only. Even though, we can think of various other perspectives to this restriction like sanitation facility, safety, distraction, etc. I would like to put different perspective on this.

For me this is purely a case of control over resource by the male section of the society by not giving permission to enter to a particular female age group. It is about controlling someone’s freedom to worship, to make her feel weak and subordinate to man. This society has found various ways to put different restrictions on women from doing various things. Also it has found various crazy reasoning to defend the same. Like there was time when ‘Sati pratha’ was there, ‘Pardha system’ was there, ‘widowship’, ‘child marriage’ etc. which were eradicated by enforcement of law. There was a time when the society was following all these evil practices without questioning and today we find it is very logical to eradicate such practices. But, then was a group of people who opposed eradication of such practices legally and hence standing against the verdict of Honourable Supreme Court of India was well anticipated. The other perspective is the very old concept of purity and pollution. Devotees in Sabarimala follow 41 days of strict regime that includes visiting temple. And there is a taboo still existing that women don’t visit temple during periods because they are considered to be impure in those days. But, how come someone is considered to be pure or impure because, mensuration is a natural and biological process. And this another way of getting control over women by the male dominating society. And what I find is a case of control over resources and accessibility.

The social structure in relation to Sabarimala temple has been directed to change and I think we should think and act logically on it. The social structure and variance are not inherently contradictory but, if variance becomes unlimited then we must think of restructure. At this stage of progressing society where men and women are considered to be equal in front of law and order and women are given equal rights and achieving excellence in every field hence, holding back to the thousands of years social structure and function in the case of Sabarimala temple is questionable.

Question yourself !!

- Bigan Mahakul