ALAPPUZHA: The Pandalam Palace managing committee will look for options to review the verdict of the Supreme Court allowing women entry to the Sabarimala temple.
Committee chairman P. Rama Varma Raja told Deccan Chronicle that the committee believed in the rule of law and hence is confident that court would review its order. “A lawyer from Delhi has informed us that a seven-judge bench is hearing a petition on the legality of the five-member bench which pronounced verdict on Sabarimala. Let’s see what it would turn out to be.”
The palace is not oblivious to the changing times, Mr Raja claimed. “Care must be taken to ensure that the legends and history of a temple are given top priority when a custom associated with that temple is changed. Unfortunately, it did not happen in the case of Sabarimala. The court has looked only into the constitutional rights of citizen,” he said.
Mr Raja said the sanctity of Sabarimala pilgrimage was no longer intact after the verdict. “The Sabarimala pilgrimage is always considered an imitation of Lord Ayyappa’s journey to the jungle to neutralise dacoit Othenan,” he said. “None except courageous men with strict vratha had gone to Sabarimala. Later it was relaxed to children and elderly women. Now, with the Supreme Court verdict, the very concept of pilgrimage has become a history.” The entry of women in menstrual cycle to the temples could invite dire consequences for the state, he warned.
Mr Raja questioned the eagerness of the government the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) to implement the court directive, disregarding the feelings of the scores of Ayyappa devotees across the globe.
