Śabarimala: Ayyappa’s Virginity, Gender Equality and Conflicts of Religious Rights in Today’s India
https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2020-38-1-201-228
EDN: HKGSUL
Abstract
The article analyzes one of the most controversial clashes over religion in India, namely the conflict around the worship of god Ayyappa in the Sabarimala temple in Kerala. The practice of preventing fertile women from entering the temple has been established and entrenched here, fertility being formally defined as the age between ten and fifty. The practice is due to the fact that Ayyappa in this temple is worshiped as brahmachari, “eternal virgin.” However, within the framework of the same Ayyappa cult in Kerala and partly elsewhere in South India, there are other images of this god, other interpretations and practices that allow women of any age to visit the shrines. In September 2018, the Indian Supreme Court ruled the ban for fertile women to be discriminatory. Since October 2018, Kerala has been engulfed in waves of protests, clashes between supporters and opponents of the gender restrictions, which sometimes turn into violent clashes. This paper analyzes the course of these events in the context of both Ayyappa cult and the current challenges of the regulation of religion in India.
About the Author
Svetlana Ryzhakova
Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russia Academy of Sciences; Russian State University of the Humanities
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
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Review
For citations:
Ryzhakova S. Śabarimala: Ayyappa’s Virginity, Gender Equality and Conflicts of Religious Rights in Today’s India. State, Religion and Church in Russia and Worldwide. 2020;38(1):201-228. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-7203-2020-38-1-201-228. EDN: HKGSUL
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