Amid tight security, Lord Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala in Kerala opened on Saturday evening for the two-month long Mandalam Makaravilakku pilgrimage season. Temple tantri Kandararu Mohanararu opened the sanctum sanctorum and performed the pujas.
The pilgrims would be allowed to climb the 18 holy steps after the padi puja and have darshan.
Meanwhile, at least ten women devotees in the age group of 10 and 50 were sent back by police from Pamba base camp, nearly 6 km downhill from the temple complex. These women were part of a broad set of pilgrims from Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh.
The LDF government has decided not to give protection to women devotees after a five-judge Constituion bench of the Supreme Court deferred the verdict on a batch of review pleas and referred the issue of women's entry into the hill shrine to a larger bench.
Police verifying age proof of women devotees at Pamba
A centuries-old custom bars women of menstrual age from entering the shrine situated on the Western Ghats in Pathanamthitta district.
Devaswom minister Kadakampally Surendran said Sabarimala was not a place for activism and the government would not support those who make announcements about entering the hill shrine for the sake of publicity.
He said there was "some confusion" over the latest Supreme Court order and women desirous of visiting Sabarimala should get a "court order."
The state and temple precincts had witnessed frenzied protests by right outfits and BJP workers last year after the state government had decided to implement the Supreme Court's verdict of September 28, 2018 allowing women of all age groups to offer prayers at the shrine.
This year, even though the top court has not stayed its verdict, the government was exercising caution.
Will visit Sabarimala on Sunday, says Trupti
Social activist and Bhumata bridge leader, Trupti Desai, who was not allowed to offer prayers last year and had to return from Kochi airport due to protests from devotees, said in Mumbai that she would be visiting Sabarimala on Sunday.
"If women need protection to trek the hills, police should provide the same. Whether government gives protection or not we will be reaching on November 17 to offer prayers", she said.
Surendran, however, said people like Trupti Desai should not make use of the opportunity to exhibit their strength, and added Sabarimala was not a place for such dramas.
