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Historic! Shani Shingnapur temple lifts ban on women, allows them pray at inner sanctum

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Yielding to a high voltage campaign by activists, the Shani Shingnapur temple trust allowed women to enter the sanctum sanctorum, breaking the tradition followed for several decades. Significantly, lifting of all gender barriers for access to the core area came on the auspicious occasion of “Gudi Padwa”, marking New Year by people across Maharashtra.

Historic! Shani Shingnapur temple lifts ban1-AV

Earlier on Friday, about 250 residents of Shingnapur village thronged the temple premises and barged into the inner sanctum breaking through the double barricades put up by the trustees around the sanctum, to offer ‘Jal Pooja’ on the occasion of Gudi Padwa, the Hindu New Year. Shortly thereafter, the temple authorities announced the decision of allowing women into the inner sanctum.

“Anyone can enter the sanctum and the committee can’t stop them from entering. The rule was that men and women both can worship god (darshan) from the lower part of the temple, but when men entered the sanctum then it became our responsibility to also let women enter,” Nana Sahib Bankar, vice-president of the Shani Shingnapur Trust, told the media here.

Trustee Shalini Lande informed the mediapersons about the decision on behalf of the temple trust. The step was immediately welcomed by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and women’s group Bhumata Ranragini Brigade that was agitating for it for four months.

“The state government has taken the same stand from the very beginning and we filed an affidavit in the High Court that there should be no discrimination. Today, they have decoded on this issue and we wish that after today, no one needs the police to get ‘darshan’. Religion never discriminates on the basis of caste or gender,” Fadnavis said.

Trupti Desai, who led the agitation,  welcomed the decision of Shani Shingnapur temple trustees to open gates of the sacred “Chauthara” for men and women devotees, and said it was a “wise” step on their part. “Der se aye lekin durusta aye” (It was late but in the end correct decision),” she said reacting to the development that signalled a victory for her prolonged fight against gender discrimination at places of worship.

“We are happy that the temple trustees have taken a wise decision eventually,” she said.

Desai said she and her group of activists would be soon leaving for Shani Singnapur to offer prayers at the temple.

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