Ever since the SC verdict allowing the entry of women into the sanctum sanctorum of the Sabarimala temple came through, the social media has been abuzz with related posts. On the one hand, there were posts by Hindu women, who created the #readytowait and swore that the judgement notwithstanding, they would adhere to the age-old tradition and would not enter the temple till they were well past the menstruating age. A second group comprising mostly men were arguing how the judgement was based on two flawed arguments of discrimination and misogyny. A third group chose to highlight the fact about how the same women's lobby that could arm twist the judiciary in the sabarimala case failed to gain entry for women into the Haji Ali Dargah that positively discriminates women.
All the three groups were going ballistic with their posts, fuming over the misplaced judgement. (Surprisingly so, I saw very few posts celebrating the judgement!)
While big data analysts could find that data interesting for a study on the social/cultural orientation of social media users, there is an important aspect of the judgement that I think everyone is missing....and that is its inevitability!
As a Hindu woman, who wouldn't dream of touching the images of gods in my house during my menstruation, I place my arguments not in favour of the judgement, nor against it, but in favour of its inevitability!
Curiously enough, Parampara, the Sanskrit word used for tradition is made up of two words - param, aparam - that mean forward movement. (In a video that had gone viral over the social media a few months back, Sonal Mansingh, the Odiya danseuse, demonstrates the meaning of the word with her lovely footwork.) So tradition is not something that is static; it is something that is constantly moving. That makes it unstoppable too!
And nowhere in the history of temple entries has it been proved more emphatically than in Kerala.
The year was 1936. After a prolonged and painful struggle by the untouchables demanding their right to temple worship, the then Maharaja of Travancore issued the Temple Entry Proclamation that finally allowed the entry of the dalits into the premises of the Hindu temples across the state of Travancore....for the first time since temples were made! This landmark decision changed the course of India's human social history forever.
Of course, it wasn't easy for the traditionalists to let go of their ideas or ideologies. But the reality is, today, nobody can dream of stopping a Hindu from entering a temple in India no matter what his caste or social status may be!
Just as the Sabarimala, the four Shankara Mutts, established in four parts of India, too once debarred women from entering their premises, demarcating the mutt space as exclusive to men, particularly Brahmacharis and men seeking sanyas. But today, we find women teeming these mutts by the millions.
Similarly, there was also a tradition that debarred women from uttering the Surya Gayatri mantra, till Anuradha Paudwala came along in the 1980s and rendered it soulfully, eventually putting the sacred mantra on the lips of many a woman!
Even with respect to Sabarimala traditions observed by men, changes have been inevitable.
The severe votive abstinence that the yatra demands from men for have been done away with. The earlier specified period of 42 days has shrunk for convenience sake to sometimes even a week. From walking up the entire path to the temple, men have started to use vehicles to save on time and energy. Food restrictions have been relaxed; some chain smokers even refuse to give up their 'habit' during the abstinence period. Today, men, who were strictly prescribed to stay away from the presence of fertile women during this period, are forced to cohabit in close proximity with them, be it in their house, workspace or in public spaces.
The list of such breakaways from old traditions is long and endless....
Some of these changes sneaked in on us quietly, and we pretended not to notice. While some others came in violently as the current case of the Sabari mala issue. These changes may have offended and hurt us, for very many reasons, but like the ones before are here to stay.....
