Sabarimala: 11 women return after being denied entry, protesters taken into custody

www.mangaloretoday.com

Pamba, Dec 23, 2018: A group of 11 Tamil women devotees who wanted to perform a Sabarimala darshan on Sunday were forced to leave after protests turned violent and police took two dozen protesters into custody.

Led by Selvie, an activist belonging to the Maniti Women’s group in Tamil Nadu, the women from the hitherto banned age group were forced to leave Pamba for Madurai after Ayyappa devotees chased them away from ascending the hill.

The Sabarimala foothills yet again witnessed high drama on SUnday as hundreds of devotees blocked paths and chased away a group of 11 women of menstruating age being escorted to the hill shrine by the police. Though the police team tried to arrest and remove a few of the devotees who blocked the traditional forest path and take the women members of Chennai-based outfit ’Maniti’, hundreds of pilgrims rushed down to the valley to chase them away.

Tension prevailed at Pamba, the foothills of the Lord Ayyappa Temple in Kerala, on Sunday morning as a group of 11 women, below the age of 50 years, tried to trek the hilltop shrine, even as devotees protested against the move.

Though they attempted to trek through the traditional forest path, about five kilometres from the temple complex, they could not go forward as devotees started ’namajapa’ (chanting of hymns of the lord) protest against them.

Women, in the age group of 10-50 years, are traditionally barred from entering the Sabarimala temple. But the Supreme Court, through its September 28 landmark verdict, lifted the curb and permitted women of all age groups to offer prayers at the temple.

"We will continue the protest till we can visit the temple and offer prayers to Lord Ayyappa. Police asked us to go back, citing security reasons. But we will not go," Thilakavathi, one of the members of the group, told a television channel.

"Priests of the local temple at Pamba did not cooperate with us and declined to get our ’irumudikettu’ (sacred offering to the God) ready as per custom. So we did it on our own," she said, adding that more members of their outfit would reach the state soon to visit Sabarimala.

Of the 11 women, six carried the traditional irumudikettu which is mandatory to climb the ’pathinettam padi’ (holy steps leading to sanctum sanctorum).

Clad in the customary black dress, the women, led by the outfit’s coordinator Selvi, insisted to the police that they want protection to offer prayers at the shrine.

As the news spread, a large number of devotees thronged Pamba, about five kilometres away from Sannidhanam (Sabarimala temple complex). Police officials are now holding talks with the representatives of the outfit.

Anxiety had loomed large in and around Sabarimala temple for some days as ’Manithi’, the outfit, had declared that a group of 50 women, all below the traditionally barred age of 50 years, would visit the shrine on Sunday.

Selvy had told a Malayalam TV channel that the group comprised women from different states, including Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Karnataka besides Kerala. She had also said they had already written to the office of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and informed him about their plan to trek to the hill temple.

Kerala had witnessed massive protests by devotees opposing the entry of girls and women in the 10-50 age group into the Sabarimala temple since the Kerala government decided to implement the September 28 verdict of the Supreme Court permitting women of all age groups there.

Over a dozen women have so far made unsuccessful attempts to trek the holy hills.

Four transgenders, who were earlier stopped from proceeding towards the Lord Ayyappa temple citing security reasons, offered prayers at the hill shrine under heavy police security earlier this week.

The Kerala High Court earlier this month appointed a three-member committee, vesting them with powers to oversee law and order and other problems faced by pilgrims during the ongoing annual season.