Thiruvananthapuram: A woman member of the Travancore royal family has supported the order allowing women to wear churidar in the Padmanabha Swamy temple. Thiruvathira Thirunal Lakshmi Bayi of the royal family sent a letter to Padmanabha swamy temple executive officer K.N. Satheesh pointing out that the rule that a woman should wear a dhoti over her churdar to enter the temple premises was absurd. This was contrary to the stand of Aditya Varma, the official representative of the royal family in the temple committee, who wanted to maintain status quo on women's dress inside the temple.
Lakshmi Bayi, wife of journalist M.T. Nalappad and daughter-in-law of the late writer Kamala Surayya, had written the letter on November 26, even before the High Court had passed the order allowing women to wear churidar inside the temple, Mr Satheesh told Deccan Chronicle. Lakshmi Bayi pointed out that Malayalis would have been upset if an elderly Malayali woman was not allowed inside a North Indian temple. The same is the case with elderly women from North India who were stopped from entering the temple wearing a churidar.
The temple executive officer had ruled that woman devotees can wear churidar and enter the temple complex based on the court order on November 29. Incidentally, the order contradicted the opinion of the priests and temple administrative committee that status quo should be maintained in dress code. It was later put on hold by the district judge. The issues are most likely to come up before the court soon. The order from the executive officer came based on a petition filed in the High Court by advocate Riya Raji of Thiruvananthapuram. Raji had first approached the temple administrative committee with a demand to allow churidar in the temple.
