Sabarimala Sree Dharma Sastha Temple

Kerala’s Sabarimala shrine, set at roughly 1,260 metres in the Western Ghats within what is now the Periyar Tiger Reserve, is dedicated to Ayyappan (also called Dharma Sastha), worshipped as a celibate ascetic-god. Tradition holds that Ayyappan was born to Shiva and Mohini (Vishnu’s female form) in order to destroy the buffalo-demoness Mahishi, was found as an infant on the banks of the Pampa river by the childless king of Pandalam, and, as a boy named Manikandan, slew Mahishi before ascending the hill and directing that eighteen steps be built leading to his sanctum — the Pathinettampadi that pilgrims still climb today. The hill’s name is popularly traced to Shabari, the ascetic devotee of Rama from the Ramayana said to have awaited him at this site, and pilgrims traditionally detour through Erumely to a mosque associated with Vavar, remembered in devotional tradition as a friend and companion of Ayyappan — an unusual and long-standing instance of a Hindu pilgrimage route incorporating a Muslim shrine.

Unlike many Kerala temples that claim great antiquity, Sabarimala’s documented history is comparatively recent: the earliest written account is a British officer’s 1818 description of a five-day annual festival, and the temple itself has been substantially rebuilt twice after fires, in 1902 and again in 1950, after which the original stone image was replaced by the current panchaloha icon in the early 1950s. The temple opens only for specific windows each year — chiefly the Mandala-Makaravilakku season from mid-November to around Makara Sankranti in mid-January, plus Vishu in April and the first five days of every Malayalam month — and pilgrims traditionally prepare with a 41-day vratham of celibacy, vegetarianism, and austerity before carrying the irumudikettu offering bundle up the hill. It is today among the most heavily attended pilgrimage sites anywhere, drawing an estimated several million visitors each season.

For much of its modern history, custom (formalized by a 1991 Kerala High Court ruling) barred women of menstruating age — broadly, ages 10 to 50 — from the shrine, out of deference to Ayyappan’s celibate nature. This was challenged in Indian Young Lawyers Association v. State of Kerala, and on September 28, 2018, a five-judge Supreme Court Constitution Bench ruled 4-1 that the exclusion was unconstitutional, permitting women of all ages to enter; Justice Indu Malhotra dissented. The verdict was followed by large, sustained protests across Kerala, and the entry of two women, Bindu Ammini and Kanakadurga, on January 2, 2019 prompted further unrest and a temporary closure of the temple for purification rites. The Supreme Court referred review petitions against the judgment to a larger bench on November 14, 2019, and the underlying constitutional questions remained under consideration in the years that followed.