Sabarimala temple reopens today

The All India Sabarimala Action Council (AISAC) said on Monday it was relieved that “no women of menstruating age (10-50 years) visited” the hill temple of Lord Ayyappa in the just-concluded Mandalam season. The Lord Ayyappa temple in the Pathanamthitta district of Kerala reopens on Tuesday for pilgrims for the ‘Makara vilakku’ season.The council is hopeful that the sanctity, traditions, rituals and customs of the shrine, where the presiding deity is a celibate yogi, will be protected at any cost, AISAC general secretary SJR Kumar said. “We will continue our vigil in and around the temple premises to ensure that the pilgrims’ sentiments and religious beliefs are not hurt in any manner,” Kumar said over phone from Kochi. He also expressed happiness over the observation made by Chief Justice SA Bobde on December 5  that the SC verdict given in 2018 allowing women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple was not the “final word” and the matter had been referred to a larger Bench. For protecting the temple’s sanctity, so many ardent devotees had protested last year and this year against entry of all women. As many as 65,000 such Ayyappa devotees have been facing criminal cases in various courts of Kerala,” Kumar claimed.