Shrine chauthara still shut for women

Shani Shingnapur’s first chairwoman says tradition won’t be changed

Despite having raised the hackles of rationalists, Anita Shete, the first ever woman chairman of Shani Shingnapur Temple Trust in Ahmednagar district, continued to maintain her stance of not allowing women devotees to enter the inner sanctum sanctorum of the Shani temple. Women continue to be barred from entering the area, so much so, a woman’s entry there not so long ago triggered a huge controversy.

Her decision came on a day when the Supreme Court said that women could not be denied entry into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala on the grounds of equality under the Constitution.

A resident of Shani Shingnapur and educated till class 11, Ms Shete was elected as one of the trustees of Shingnapur Trust last week and later chosen as chairwoman of the trust. She is one of the first two women entrusted with trusteeship of the temple, the other one being Shalini Lande. A section of society welcomed the decision and expected that the duo would take a progressive stance and allow women to perform the puja. However, while speaking with this newspaper, Ms Shete said she would not allow women to enter the chauthara (sanctum sanctorum).

“Women should respect the four-hundred-year-old tradition where women are prohibited from entering the main elevated platform and worshipping lord Shanidev,” said Ms Shete, a political follower of Shankarrao Gadakh, a strong NCP leader from Ahmednagar district.

Readers may recall that last year, the temple faced severe criticism last December after a girl managed to barge in and perform the puja after which they had to cleanse the sacred, elevated platform.

Last December, Ms Shete and Ms Lande filed their nomination papers for election to the temple trust. Ms Shete said that both women and men are debarred from entering the premises. She claimed that the branch of a nearby Neem tree whose shadow fell on Lord Shani had dried up. Tradition has it that the shadow of both men and women should not fall on the deity.

She, however, admitted that their election to the trust was meant to address problems faced by women devotees.