NEW DELHI, Jan. 2 (Xinhua) -- Two Indian women on Wednesday made history by entering inside prominent Hindu shrine Sabarimala in the southern state of Kerala, officials said.
The duo managed to enter the shrine before daybreak, thereby becoming the first to do so after India's top court in September last year struck down decades-old ban on entry of women of menstrual age (defined as between 10-50 years) inside the shrine.
The court order saw series of protests and blocking of women's passage to the temple for months together.
Following their entry the temple was shut down for ritual "purification" briefly and later reopened for devotees.
"The 40-year-old Bindu Ammini and 39-year-old Kanaka Durga, entered the temple of Lord Ayyappa around dawn," an official said. "They paid obeisance at the temple for a few minutes."
The two women were accompanied by policemen in plain clothes to enter the temple.
Kerala's Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters the women's entry inside the temple was a historic moment.
On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands women from across Kerala lined up to form a 620 km human chain called "women wall" in a bid to uphold gender equality and renaissance values.
While most Hindu temples allow women to enter as long as they are not menstruating, however, Sabarimala temple does not allow women in a broad age group of 10-50 years to enter at all.
The hilltop shrine remains open only for 127 days in a year and can only be accessed through a difficult forest terrain.
The hardline groups view the court ruling as an attack on Hindu values.
