Kolhapur Mahalaxmi temple allows women to enter inner sanctum

The decision was taken after a meeting between the police and the temple management in the wake of the Shani Shingnapur ruling

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The Samiti and priests have together taken the decision to allow women into the sanctum (Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons)

Breaking an age-old convention, a few women were Monday allowed to enter the inner sanctum of the historical Mahalaxmi temple in Maharashtra’s Kolhapur district.

In the wake of Bombay High Court’s ruling that women cannot be stopped from entering the religious places and subsequent decision by trustees of Shani temple at Shingnapur to allow women to enter its core area notwithstanding the ancient taboo, some women’s organisations here had made similar demand for Mahalaxmi temple.

Though the temple was always open to men and women alike, women were not allowed inside the inner sanctum (‘gabhara’) of the temple.

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Inspector Anil Deshmukh of Juna Rajwada police station told PTI that police today held a meeting with representatives of various organisations, the Paschim Maharashtra Devsthan Samiti (which manages this and various other temples in western Maharashtra) and the temple priests.

After the Samiti as well as the priests said that they were not opposed to women entering the inner sanctum, eight women today went into the sanctum and performed a puja, the police officer said.

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Shani Shingnapur