Tension Rose When Most Sacred Hindu Temple Was Opened To Women Of All Ages In India

Hundreds of extra police in southern India were on high alert for scheduled opening to women of all ages of one of the country's most sacred Hindu temple. Thousands of people, many of them women, have marched in recent days against females being allowed to pray in the hilltop temple at Sharmala in southern state of Kerala. India's supreme court in September overturned a prohibition on women of menstruating age, between 16 and 50, entering the site dedicated to the deity Ayyappa. The centuries old ban reflected an old but still prevalent belief that menstruating women are impure, and the fact that Ayyappa was reputed to have been celibate. In recent days groups of chanting women in traditional sarees have stopped vehicles along the route and at Nilackal, the base camp below the site, preventing women from entering proceeding.Those stopped trying to make it to the site, where an annual pilgrimage later in the year attracts millions of devotees, including female journalists. The chief priest of the temple, warned earlier this week that widespread anger could easily escalate into violence if a few egotistical try to enter. The priest further said several "scientists" had concurred with the view that "positive energy" in a temple can be polluted by entry of menstruating women.