The tantri, chief priest, is the last word in matters relating to tantric and ritualistic practices at Hindu temples in Kerala and the ongoing clamour seeking entry for women of all age groups to Sabarimala should be viewed in this perspective, BJP leader P.P. Mukundan has said.
Talking to The Hindu , Mr. Mukundan, a former RSS pracharak, said that the position of Sabarimala Tantri is far above that of any court in India in matters related to temple rituals and tantric practices.
Mr. Mukundan said the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) was bound to protect the custom and tradition at Sabarimala, that included restricted entry for women of a particular age group, intact.
According to him, it is grossly unjust to portray Sabarimala as a place of worship where entry for women has been totally banned. He said the restriction was only for those women in the age group of 10 to 50 years and that too strictly on the basis of the ritualistic tradition at the Ayyappa temple where the presiding deity was considered as a persistent bachelor (Naishtik Brahmachari).
Mr. Mukundan said even the judiciary was unlikely to stand against this ritualistic tradition at Sabarimala. It was also a fact that a large number of elderly women and girls below the age of 10 years undertake pilgrimage to Sabarimala every month.
The custom and tradition at Sabarimala make no distinction by caste, creed or gender and it has been the most secular Hindu place of worship in Kerala. Here, every devotee was treated as the deity itself — male devotees as ‘Ayyappa’ and female devotees as ‘Malikappuram’ — signalling the fact that the abode of Lord Ayyappa commanded transformation of the human being to the `deity,’ he said.
