Sabarimala: Two women devotees, below the age of 50, on Wednesday managed to enter the Lord Ayyappa temple here, in a first after the September 28 Supreme Court verdict allowed entry of women of all ages into the hillock temple.
The women, identified as Ms Bindu from Koilandy and Ms Kanaga Durga from Angadippuram in Malappuram entered the temple accompanied by the police officials from Pamba to Sannidanam and ensured their Darshan at 0330 hrs.
Talking to newspersons over phone after Darshan, Bindu said she and Kanaga Durga reached Pamba at 0100 hrs and sought the police protection for their trekking.Meanwhile, Chief Priest Kandararu Rajeevaru said he was not aware of the entry of young women and will discuss the matter with officials of Travancore Devaswom Board."I came to know the reports and visuals in this regard from TV channels. We don't know whether they entered the Sanctum Sanctorum," he added.
Unconfirmed reports say the women with the police in mafty entered Sannidanam not through the traditional trekking path.Meanwhile, the Kerala Police also confirmed the entry of women into the temple early this morning.
This is to be noted that the same two women were sent back on December 24 following amid protest from devotees.
They were stopped at Marakkuttam and sent back on that day following stiff protection from devotees of other States including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, Kerala Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran not reacted to the incident as the Minister earlier said it was not the policy of the Government to bring women for violating the traditions.
Earlier, DGP Loknath Behra said the police tried their level best to implement the September-28 Supreme Court verdict allowing the entry for women of all ages into the hillock shrine.
In November, when a group of women began trekking from Pamba, the Tantri said the temple will be closed if the customs are violated. However, Tantri is yet to confirm whether any special ritual will be held in connection with the violation of the customs.(UNI)