Sabarimala temple to clinse itself because of Jaimala !

July 7th, Thiruvananthapuram : Sabarimala temple, Kerela will stay shut to women, its custodian said and announced a two-year cleansing ritual. This is after the shrine was found “defiled” because an actress Jaimala claimed to have touched the presiding deity.

According to the temple rules, only girls who have not attained puberty and women who have entered menopause are allowed to enter the temple, dedicated to Lord Ayyappa.

The Kerala government to institute a probe into actress Jaimala’s claim that she had entered the temple in violation of tradition and even touched the temple deity almost two decades ago.

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the custodian of the temple, arrived at its decision of not opening the temple to women at a meeting here Friday.

“The rule of Sabarimala is very clear. A 41-day penance has to be observed before any devotee can come to this temple. Is it possible for women to observe a 41-day penance? So we just cannot allow the entry of women,” TDB president G. Raman Nair told newsmen.

The temple is nestled in the heart of the Western Ghats in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. The area trekked by the pilgrims is densely foliated; even now it is full of scary giant centipedes and leeches.

The main reason behind the ban on women in the temple is that Ayyappa, the presiding deity, would have his chronic bachelorhood defiled by the presence of grown up women.

Nair also defended astrologer P. Unnikrishna Panicker, who had said last month that somebody had “defiled” the temple, after which the actress claimed she had touched the deity.

“He has asked us to do certain corrective rituals, and this is to begin from the Sri Krishna Temple at Guruvayur next Friday. The entire corrective ritual would cost around half a million rupees and would take almost two years,” added Nair.

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