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On the one hand Hindu women are struggling to get entry into Shani Shingnapur temple (Ahmednagar Maharashtra), and claiming their right to worship in the Sabarimala temple while on the other and at the same time, Muslim women are fighting a legal battle to restore their access to Haji Ali dargah in Mumbai.
In Shani Shingnapur while men are allowed to the Chabutara (raised platform) it is believed that women doing the same are a bad omen as this will make Lord Shani (Saturn) will cast an evil eye. Sanatan Prabhat, the right wing daily says that the movement of women must be prevented to save Hindu traditions. RSS mouth piece Organizer defended the practice of not permitting women to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. In response to the agitation led by Trupti Desai of the Bhumata Brigade the spiritual Guru Sri Sri Ravishankar of Art of Living tried to mediate between the women’s group and the temple trustees. Interestingly he advised that neither women nor men should be allowed to the Chabutara. Also the RSS mouth piece Organiser opines that while initiating any move to amend the existing regulations care should be taken to preserve tradition and prestige of these places.
In case of the Saabrimala shrine, the argument is that Lord is a celibate and women in the menstrual age group will be distracting him. One recalls that an IAS officer, who happened to be a woman had visited the shrine for overseeing the arrangements in readiness for the pilgrimage in her official capacity. She was also denied entrance on the ground of being a woman.
In the case of Haji Ali in Mumbai the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan has filed a writ in court demanding the entry of women to the mazar be restored. This restriction was imposed in 2012. The women’s groups have cited different clauses of the Constitution where one has equality before the law and cannot be discriminated against on the grounds of gender. The argument of Dargah trustees is on the ground of security of women, which to say the least is ridiculous.
In the case of Sabarimala the earlier argument was that the path to the shrine is not safe for women. This later was clarified by the Devaswom Board Travancore by stating the real reason to be the celibacy of Lord Ayappa. The Managing board, stated that the restriction is necessary because the presence of women of reproductive age would disturb the celibate god
Muslim women have a varying degree of access to mosques, much lesser in South Asian Countries than in countries like Turkey for example. In Hindu temples the entry is again not uniform; there are different pretexts to prevent their full access to the places of worship. While in many countries the law is for equality, the traditions and the controllers of these places have been preventing the full access to the holy deity by women. The patriarchal control and pattern of holy places exists in various degrees.
This does not apply to Churches where access is not the issue. Here the discussion is about elevating women to the higher levels of priesthood which is still being resisted. In Hindu temples and Muslim mosques and shrines the women priests are practically non existent, with claims to the contrary serving more as an exception than a rule.
In case of India where equality is guaranteed by law, these laws don’t dare to come to the places controlled by the conservative trusts, the controllers of institutions of religion, generally an exclusive male bastion. In the Hindu fold there is an additional factor of caste. One understands there is ‘caste in the practice’ of Muslims and Christians also, but so far as the places of worship are concerned they are accessible to all, irrespective. One recalls the struggles of Babasaheb Ambedkar for temple entry, the Kalaram Temple agitation, before he decided to renounce Hinduism saying that Hinduism is Brahminic theology and so inherently hierarchical. As such most faiths do have the hierarchical structure in-built into the institution of religion.
The march by women for gender equality has all through faced obstacles from the conservative elements, who want to stick to the feudal hierarchy of caste and gender. Christian fundamentalism in the United States in the early twentieth century, or Islamic fundamentalism in Afghanistan, Iran or Pakistan or Hindu communalism dominating the Indian scene are all united in subjugating women. One is optimistic that notwithstanding these obstacles the women’s march towards gender parity will continue till rights become equal.
