Sabarimala board cites Muslim tradition to defend curbs on women

NEW DELHI: The board that manages the Sabarimala temple defended the custom of disallowing female worshippers aged 10-50 years into the Kerala shrine as a matter of faith, and cited the ban on women from entering mosques to justify the practice.

“No woman is allowed to enter a mosque,” senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for the Travancore Devaswom Board, told a five-judge bench. He admitted that many religious practices were patriarchal and regressive, but said that could not be the touchstone to abolish them.

The constitution bench, led by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, is hearing a petition seeking equal rights for women to pray at the Ayyappa temple.


Singhvi cited the practice of selfflagellation as a case in point. “These cannot be judged as per modern standards and ethos,” he said. “It is not anti-woman, but a belief, a part of faith.” He went on to point out that there were several temples where men were not allowed to enter, such as the Brahma temple in Pushkar. He said reforms if any in a religion must come from inside unless banned by law as barbaric.

These are sensitive matters of religion and can’t be based on progressive notions, he said. The bench, however, did not seem to agree with him. Justice RF Nariman pointed out that the exclusion of men was not complete in all these instances.

Singhvi changed tack of his arguments after the court rejected all his preliminary arguments — that the Ayyappa sect was a separate denomination which would entitle it to restrict entry of women into the temple.

He argued that women were disallowed as they could not complete the mandated 41-day penance required before visiting the temple. The penance involves leading a spartan life and observing abstinence.

Another basic premise of his was that the custom was immemorial and had been in vogue without interruption for centuries. The bench rejected these arguments.

“The fact that all are allowed to worship goes against the denominational claim,” Justice DY Chandrachud said. All religions and castes can enter the temple.