Temple trust urges women not to visit Sabarimala for security sake
Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 26 (IBNS): The Travancore Devaswom Board, the trust which manages the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala, has urged young women to not come to the temple premise for sake of security and societal harmony, media reports said.
This comes as several groups of women separately had tried to enter the temple at various time after the Supreme Court in its ruling broke the age-old norm of not allowing women under 50 years of age inside the shrine.
"Security issues and other problems are bound to happen if young women come to offer prayers at a time when lakhs of devotees are flocking there," NDTV quoted Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) head A. Padmakumar as saying.
"On the Devaswom board's behalf, I request genuine women devotees to not come during this time," he said.
He urged women under 50 years to not take pilgrimage of the temple during the Mandala Makravilaku season.
However, he assured that the issue will be discussed once the season is over.
"We can hold discussions with the government, court officials and the other stakeholders concerned after that," he added.
On September 28, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court had lifted the ban on women's entry into the Sabarimala temple declaring the relevant rules as unconstitutional.
Following the top court's verdict, the shrine opened on October 18 for the first time allowing menstruating women, belonging to the age group of 10 to 50, to enter the temple.
However, several men and women had protested outside the temple, and tried to prevent the entry of women to the shrine.
Reports said the state's Left government says it intends to implement the apex court's order but the Congress and BJP were creating problems.
For centuries, menstruating women had been banned from entering the temple.
The temple will close at 10 pm on Dec 27 after the completion of the Mandala puja.
It will reopen at 5 pm on Dec 30 for the Makarvilakku festival, before finally closing on Jan 20 for now.
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