The Supreme Court’s move to question the rules of entry into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala has sparked a debate between the religious authority and the law.
The next Supreme Court hearing will be held on 8 February.
Rahul Easwar, grandson of the chief priest of the Sabarimala temple, has raised his voice against the Supreme Court’s stance.
In an email conversation with The Quint, Easwar has stated three points with which the pro-Sabarimala leaning will lead their argument:
Every temple has unique ‘idol concept or pratishta sankalpa’.The rules and regulations of that peculiar temple or pilgrimage is created for this.If God is omnipresent why go to a temple? It is because Temple is a spiritual space designed to create a specific spiritual experience.
Easwar has faced criticism for his statements in support of the prohibition on women’s entry in the Sabarimala temple.
Celibacy
He has stated that the regulation is in place because of the “naishtika brahmacharya pratishta”. This type of “pratishtha” or the basis of conceptualisation of the Sabarimala in Kerala, according to Easwar, is the only reason for the regulation prohibiting entry of women.
There are 100s of Ayyappa temples which allow women because those temples have differing pratishta concept.Rahul Easwar, Author and Activist
Brahmachari – besides being a 1968 hit Bollywood film starring Shammi Kapoor – is someone who has accepted celibacy, according to the Shabdkosh dictionary.
Thus, Easwar argues, that the virtue of celibacy forms the core of establishment of the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, and not impurity of women.
Few questions that remain answered in his argument, however, include why are celibate women not allowed to worship at this particular temple?
Menstruation
According to Easwar, being a temple with “Naishtika Brahmacharya pratishta” does not mean
- Women are impure during periods.
- Women can’t take 41 days vrata (a traditional mandate to undertake the Sabarimala pilgrimage).
- Periods are impure.
These arguments are purposefully raised by left leaning feminists to discredit our argument and they want to argue from false premises and those which suit them.Rahul Easwar, Author and Activist
However, Easwar’s explanation fails to justify the comments made by the Sabarimala temple authority in November 2015.
Devaswom chief of Sabarimala temple, Kerala had said that women will be allowed to enter the temple only when a there is a machine to determine weather it is the “right time” for women to enter the temple or not.
Also read: Women Respond to Temple Authorities’ Outrageous, Sexist Statement
Women-Exclusive Sabarimala Remains Unquestioned
There exists an Aiyyappan temple which provides women an exclusive access to the Aiyyappa idol.
According to Easwar, the temple has entered the Guinness Book of World Records for holding the biggest congregation of women in the world – 30 lakh of them at the same time.
Why no one cries discrimination (about women-exclusive temple)? Because differentiation is not discrimination.Rahul Easwar, Author and Activist
Easwar argues that the left leaning “female chauvinists” have failed to question the women-exclusive temple – “a strategy by feminists to paint” the pro-prohibition people bad.
Our land had a lot of issues and insensitivity because of male chauvinism and in the present let us not have female chauvinism. The answer to male chauvinism is not female chauvinism but respect for equality, diversity and uniqueness.Rahul Easwar, Author and Activist
However, similar to the questions related to celibate women, the questions related to change in stringent traditions remained unanswered.
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