The Sabarimala temple in the state of Kerala has been the site of tension since India’s Supreme Court ruled in late September to end a ban on women of menstruating age entering it.
There have since been sporadic outbreaks of violence between the authorities and protesters attempting to prevent women from entering, setting off a cultural battle in what is still a deeply religious country.
Bindu Ammini, 40, a law lecturer at Kerala’s Kannur University and Kanakadurga, 39, a civil servant, told Reuters they were determined to enter despite threats of violence.
“A lot of people tried to dissuade us and make us turn back – police officers, our friends… because they knew we were facing a lot of backlash,” Kanakadurga said.
After the Supreme Court’s judgment, the women made an unsuccessful attempt to enter the temple on December 24, before finally succeeding on January 2.
A third woman aged 46 has since entered the site, the office of the chief minister of Kerala said on January 4.
“We felt no fear. We had only one aim: we wanted to go to that shrine,” Bindu said.
Their entry sparked widespread protests and a day-long strike in Kerala led in part by members of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
“This BJP government has a duty to regulate and control their members,” Bindu said.
The women – speaking in an undisclosed location on the outskirts of the city of Kochi – say they have since faced threats from protesters, but that they trusted the authorities to keep them safe and plan to return home next week.
“I always say that I trust the police persons, the state government of Kerala and also our democratic society of Kerala,” Bindu said.
Women activists have been trying to enter the Sabrimala temple complex in Kerala state since a September ruling by the Supreme Court overturned a longstanding ban on women of childbearing age from visiting the shrine.
Tensions peaked again after 11 women reached the village of Pamba at the foot of the hill with the Sabrimala shrine at the top.
Pilgrims have to walk about four hours to reach the shrine but hundreds of protesters, including women, from across India blocked the path, noisily vowing not to let the women pass.
“The women are adamant they won’t withdraw until they have seen the deity at the Sabarimala temple,” said Selvi, a leader of the women, who only uses one name.
Police held talks between the two sides in a bid to end the showdown.
“We are monitoring the situation and will follow the decision of the High court-appointed monitoring committee,” Kerala state government minister for cooperation Kadakampally Surendran told journalists.
Hundreds of thousands of Hindus — men, young girls and elderly women— normally trek to the temple during the current festival season.
But Sabrimala has become a major battleground between Hindu radicals and gender activists since the Supreme Court’s landmark revocation of the ban on women between 10 and 50, which has sparked waves of protests and shutdowns across Kerala.
The Supreme Court is to hear challenges to its decision to overturn the ban on women from January 22.
Many Hindu groups and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party oppose the court ruling.
Tradition, and mobs, keep women out of Indian temple
They argue that court ignores their beliefs that the deity Ayyappa was reputed to have been celibate.
