In an extraordinary act of courage and defiance, two Indian women last week defied deep-seated tradition and entered the Sabarimala Hindu temple in southern Kerala state, from which girls and women of child-bearing age have been barred.
The tradition of not allowing women inside the shrine is based on the belief that the temple’s deity, Lord Ayappa, is celibate, and that menstruating women should not enter because they are unclean.
But on Jan. 2, Bindu Ammini, a 40-year-old law lecturer, and Kanakadurga, a 39-year-old local government employee, defied this belief and became the first women to enter the temple since the Indian Supreme Court voted 4-1 in September 2018 to overturn the ban on women, calling it unconstitutional.
In so ruling, Chief Justice Dipak Misra said the selective ban on women was not an essential part of Hinduism, and instead a form of “religious patriarchy.” Another justice said the ban stigmatized and stereotyped women and “placed the burden of men’s celibacy” on them.
Curiously, the lone woman judge was also the lone dissenter, saying “what constitutes an essential religious practice is for the religious community to decide.”
Since the ruling, other women have tried to enter the temple only to be blocked by angry mobs.
Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga made their first attempt on Dec. 24, and were less than a kilometer away from the temple when they encountered by a wall of protestors. Worried about the women’s safety, the police led them away.
But the two women refused to return to their homes until the police took them to the shrine—and under the threat of a hunger strike, the authorities finally agreed.
Unfortunately, this singular act of defiance has triggered violent protests in which at least one person has died and thousands have been arrested.
The two women have gone into hiding but remained outspoken in an interview with CNN.
After national leaders, including the prime minister, cited religious prerogatives to defend the ban on women, Kanakadurga said politicians should stop opining. Their job, she told CNN, is to end discrimination. “Politicians should obey the Supreme Court judgement and give equality to females in society.”
Bindu Ammini, the law lecturer, added: “My message to the women of India, is please break the system, and please break the evil customs. That is the message.”
It is a message that rings true and resonates, not only in India, but anywhere that long-standing customs deny justice and equal treatment to any member of society. We can only hope that we, too have the wisdom to recognize these customs and the courage to defy them.