Premium
This is an archive article published on January 27, 2016

Shani Shingnapur mandir: 400 years on, no temple for women

Several women activists, a large number of them housewives and students led by the Bhumata Ranragini Brigade were detained at Supa, 70 km from the Shani Shingnapur temple.

Shani temple, Shani temple row, Shani temple controversy, Shani Shingnapur mandir, Shani Shingnapur temple, Shani Shingnapur, Shani Shingnapur temple maharashtra, Republic Day, Maharashtra, Bhumata Ranragini Brigade, Shani Shingnapur temple Ahmednagar, Shani Shingnapur temple news, india news Last month, after a woman – apparently in ignorance-stepped onto to the unlocked platform, a purification process was performed by villagers.

In a state as progressive as Maharashtra, regressive mindsets won hands down on Republic Day – a day when the government had enough opportunity to uphold the mandate of the majority.

What should have been a simple act of worship, turned into an avoidable drama watched by the nation live on television as the Ahmednagar police, bowing to political pressure, suppressed an agitation by women to enter the sanctum of a temple-women are not allowed to enter the core shrine area.

READ | Maharashtra: Shani temple march foiled, detained women say ‘black day for democracy’

Story continues below this ad

Several women activists, a large number of them housewives and students led by the Bhumata Ranragini Brigade were detained at Supa, 70 km from the Shani Shingnapur temple located in the Ahmednagar district on Tuesday. They were not allowed to proceed to the temple as the police blocked their way at the behest of the Devendra Fadnavis government which did not want not to ruffle the sentiments of those against women entering the temple.

[related-post]

Women, as per the 400-year old tradition, were not allowed to enter the Shani temple till 2011. However, after rationalists carried out mass awareness campaigns, women were allowed to enter the temple but were prohibited from the core shrine area.

Today, women are not permitted to climb up to the platform where the rock idol of Shani is installed. This is what angered the women activists who decided to take matters into their hands after the temple trustees refused to heed their repeated pleas.

Last month, after a woman – apparently in ignorance-stepped onto to the unlocked platform, a purification process was performed by villagers. This escalated the anger and frustration among the women activists. There is a widespread belief, especially among the younger generation, that Maharashtra should do away with such antiquated practices. It is now up to CM Fadnavis to show the way.

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.   Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were  asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.     Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

Latest Comment
Post Comment
Read Comments
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement