Trupti Desai of Bhumata Brigade was beaten up the other day simply for
entering the sanctum of Mahalaxmi Temple at Kolhapur in Maharashtra in a dress
that is generally used by women in Punjab. Once used only by the Punjabis, the
dress is now common all over India, including remote places of the North-East
and South India, presumably because it offers ease in carrying out regular
activities and daily chores inside the house or outside. The sari seems to
hamper women in that and is also, apparently, cumbersome. The Punjabi outfit is
no less Indian than sari and yet she was assaulted in a display of the extreme
orthodoxy of the locals. But, that does not seem to be the actual reason for
her being roughed up. The staunch Hindus of Maharashtra have been against entry
of women in the sanctums of their highly venerated places of worship. Ms. Desai
has been spearheading the women’s movement against this discrimination. On the
basis of a judgment of Mumbai High Court, where a case had been filed in this
regard, she led women into the temple of Shani Shingnapur in Ahmednagar
district after the Court delivered a verdict in favour of the women. The
faithful, true and steadfast Hindus did not like it one bit and had developed
acute antipathy for her.
Orthodoxy has never had any rationale and even if it had any it wouldn’t
adapt to the changing environment. The kind of rigidity displayed by the devout
Hindus in Maharashtra was utterly reprehensible, particularly, at Kolhapur
where they indulged in violence and that too against a woman. The court had
already ordered that the discrimination was not legally sustainable. The
Shingnapur Shani temple authorities fended off the attempts by the Bhumata
Brigade for a couple of days after the court ordered in favour of the
petitioners but later women entered and worshipped the deity in the sanctum
only under police protection. Those were a few days of tension which may
continue for some time as the staunch Hindus are not likely to give in so
easily. One expects civil disturbances to occur whenever women attempt to enter
the sanctums.
One might mention that another instance of this kind of discrimination
is being fought out in the Supreme Court of India. A case is being heard of
entry in temples of women down in the South. The famous Ayappa temple of
Sabarimala in Kerala has prohibited entry of women of the ages between 10 and 55.
Hundreds of millions of people visit the temple trudging for miles through
difficult terrain of hills, rivers and valleys of dense forests but
menstruating women cannot join the pilgrimage. The reason handed out is that
Lord Ayappa is a celibate (Brahmachari) and hence women are barred – an absurd
argument if ever there was one. The Apex Court has decided to give the matter
extensive and detailed hearing and has asked uncomfortable questions
embarrassing the lawyers defending the indefensible practice. The matter,
however, is yet to reach finality at the Court. What is, perhaps, ironical is
that these very men wouldn’t flinch from worshipping a goddess. For them,
perhaps, goddesses do not menstruate.
In the meantime, the Hindu religious head of a monastery (math), Swami Swaropanand Swaraswati of Sharda
Peeth, Dwarka in Gujarat, waded into the controversy. He gave an avoidable
statement and said that women should not worship Shani (Saturn) as it is a
cruel planet and that women will be raped in increasing numbers if they did so.
A greater nonsense perhaps was never uttered by a Hindu high priest whose
position as Shankaracharya is traceable back to Adi Sankara of 9th
Century AD, the great reformer of Hinduism. Of late he seems to have
appropriated the exclusive right to articulate views that at best are idiotic.
He gave another statement in which he viewed the drought in Marathwada region
of Maharashtra in another context. He said that Marathwada was undergoing an
acute spell of water scarcity because people there have been worshipping Sai
Baba of Shirdi – a deemed god who, according to him, is unworthy of being
worshipped. He has thus made himself a subject of ridicule for millions of
Hindus who have unshakeable faith in Sai Baba.
Speaking of women’s movement of “temple entry” one is reminded of
another such movement more than a hundred years ago. This movement was one for
“temple entry” for Dalits, the erstwhile untouchables. India has had the
scourge of untouchability since times immemorial and as a consequence the
Dalits, the lowest in the Hindu caste hierarchy, were never considered equal to
higher castes. They were not only suppressed, shunned and humiliated, they were
also prevented from making use of various common facilities, for instance, the
roads leading to temples or the very essential facility of a common well. These
practices still continue in several parts of the country in the north and south
even sixty years after independence and promulgation of the Constitution that
guarantees absolute equality to each and every citizen regardless of caste and
creed.
If the Dalits were prevented from making use of facilities that were
vital for sustaining their lives, the question of their being allowed into the
Hindu temples would naturally not arise. A simmering discontent was, therefore,
pervasive all over, particularly in the southern parts of the country where
orthodoxy was and still is at its worst. There it is a litany of agitations,
riots and largely unsuccessful litigations in the courts since the 19th
Century. However, the “temple entry” movement gathered strength in the early
years of the 20th Century. Even Mahatma Gandhi lent his moral
influence to the movement which, though, had little effect on a bull-headed
Hindu orthodoxy.
Eventually, the erstwhile state
of Travancore (Thiruvanantpuram, earlier Trivandrum of Kerala) became the
epicenter of the movement, though before that the movement was active elsewhere
in the region. Despite the uninterrupted agitation for almost a decade it was
only in 1936 that the Maharaja of Travancore signed the historic Proclamation
of Temple Entry for Dalits, thus in one fell swoop doing away with the age old
injustice meted out to them. This happened more than 80 years ago but even now
one hears of the discriminations against Dalits in the South where they not
only are harassed in their day-to-day lives, their women are raped with
impunity and they are hacked to death if they ever displayed the audacity to marry a member of the upper
caste.
Divisions are inherent in the Hindu social and religious fabric. It has
been like this for ages and the abominations in the system have developed deep
roots. It will take years, decades, even centuries to get a level playing field
for everyone in this society. Women who have won the right to worship in the
inner sanctum of temples have to face up to the Hindu extreme Righ – a fringe that
is a tough nut to crack. It might take some more years before they are able to
visit temples without any fear or apprehensions. Shaking off their complacency,
they have to be prepared for a few more fights that seem to be in offing for
them.
*photo from internet
