美国国家公共电台 NPR India's Supreme Court Orders Hindu Temple To Open Doors To Women, But Devotees Object（在线收听）

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In southern India, an ancient Hindu temple is at the center of a modern debate over equality. The Sabarimala temple attracts millions of pilgrims each year, but it's one of the few temples in India that have age restrictions for women. That has drawn objections from feminists and the attention of India's Supreme Court. NPR's Lauren Frayer reports from Kerala.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Chanting in foreign language).

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: Hindu men chant the name of a celibate god, Lord Ayyappa, as they trek toward a temple dedicated to him. Many faithful believe Lord Ayyappa should not have contact with women who menstruate. Some think they're impure; others, a temptation. Either way, the temple bans women ages 10 to 50.

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Chanting in foreign language).

FRAYER: In September, India's Supreme Court ruled that's gender discrimination and ordered the temple to admit women of all ages.

V V RAMANI: Supreme Court, it is not correct.

SRINAN G: This is a democratic country. This is not a judicial country.

SUNDER SANTANA: They didn't study this matter in detail. It is for the benefit of the women that they abstain coming to this temple.

FRAYER: That was V.V. Ramani, Srinan G. and Sunder Santana, pilgrims who are trekking 40 miles through several towns and even a tiger reserve on a festive pilgrimage to the Sabarimala temple.

(SOUNDBITE OF DRUM MUSIC)

FRAYER: Pilgrims pass through towns like this. They're dancing barefoot. They're wearing sarongs, their chests strewn in beads, their faces painted. But for me, my driver is quite nervous. I've got a police escort. And this is about as far as I'm willing to go. Because I'm a woman between the ages of 10 and 50, it's pretty sensitive.

(SOUNDBITE OF DRUM MUSIC)

FRAYER: So sensitive that when Hindu feminist Trupti Desai landed at an airport 95 miles away from the temple, protesters blocked the airport exits and trapped her inside.

TRUPTI DESAI: (Speaking Marathi).

FRAYER: They threatened to attack taxi drivers who might dare drive her in the direction of the temple, she says.

DESAI: (Through translator) The right to pray and the right to equality - these are given to us by the Indian Constitution. It grants us the freedom to practice any religion and protects us from sexual discrimination. Hindu gods never discriminate among their devotees.

FRAYER: But people do, and when female TV correspondents tried to broadcast live outside the temple, they were attacked.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED CORRESPONDENT: Right here we are being, right now, roughed up.

FRAYER: Many of the protesters blocking women here are fellow women who do not want to enter this temple. One older woman I met, Sarassama Susheelan Nair, says she waited until she stopped getting her periods at age 53 before visiting.

SARASSAMA SUSHEELAN NAIR: (Speaking Malayalam).

FRAYER: "I'll block younger women with my own body if I have to," she says. Police are in a sticky situation. They're tasked with maintaining public order and guaranteeing women safe passage. But most of the officers here are locals, and there's a lot of pressure on them.

So we're inside a control room where...

T NARAYANAN: We already have placed 36 cameras in various places.

FRAYER: At a new command center, a wall of TV screens livestreams video from all the roads leading to the temple. But even with 5,000 extra police to escort them, not one single woman aged 10 to 50 has been able to reach the Sabarimala temple in the months since the Supreme Court ruled they could. The protesters, devotees and even politicians who've come out to block them say this is their freedom of religion. Cyriac Joseph is a retired Supreme Court justice who disagrees with his old colleagues' decision.

CYRIAC JOSEPH: For example, in the Catholic Church, only the men are allowed to be a priest. Will the court say that this is inequality? That is ridiculous.

FRAYER: Joseph thinks the court is trying to be too progressive, too Western, with a spate of recent rulings protecting the rights of homosexuals, women and minorities. Late last month, India's Supreme Court announced it would review its decision on Sabarimala, which has been so unpopular here. A hearing is set for mid-January. Lauren Frayer, NPR News, Kerala, India.