Articles about Lord Ayyappa

The Sabarimala temple of Lord Ayyappa in Kerala's Pathanamthitta reopened for pilgrims Saturday morning for the first time after the devastating second COVID-19 wave hit India.

Asserting that she was spreading obscenity, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an anticipatory bail plea of Kerala-based activist Rehana Fathima, in connection to a video which showed minor children painting on her semi-nude body.

A nine-judge constitutional bench, that was formed to hear pleas on religious discrimination faced by women, will not hear the matter for more than ten days, Chief Justice of India SA Bobde announced on Tuesday.

On Monday, a nine-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court began hearing pleas relating to discrimination that women face in places of worship like Sabarimala, mosques, and Parsi temples.

Bindu Ammini, who was one of two women to offer prayers at Sabarimala temple in January, was attacked by a Hindu Helpline activist outside the Kochi Police Commissioner's office on Tuesday.

On the fourth day of the two-month-long Mandala-Makaravilakku Sabarimala pilgrimage season, a 12-year-old girl was stopped from entering the shrine of Lord Ayyappa.

The gates of the Sabarimala shrine in Kerala opened on Saturday for the two-month-long Mandala-Makaravilakku pilgrimage season.

The centuries-old Sabarimala Temple has become a hotbed for politics, and as its gates open today for the 41-day annual pilgrimage season, Kerala government has given a clear message- the shrine isn't a place for activism.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court announced its verdict on pleas challenging the 2018 order concerning Sabarimala Temple of Kerala.

In his last working days as the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi is hoping to end long-drawn and important legal battles.

On Saturday, the Supreme Court delivered its verdict in the long-drawn Ayodhya title dispute case.

Former Parliamentarian K Sudhakaran has sparked a row with his sexist comment which he made while trading barbs at Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

On Friday, the Supreme Court directed the Kerala government to give adequate security to Bindu and Kanaka Durga, the two women who entered Sabarimala temple on January 2.

A 36-year-old woman has claimed she entered the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala and offered prayers to Lord Ayyappa.

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi came down heavily on Kerala government, led by Pinarayi Vijayan, on Friday after two women entered the Sabarimala temple of Lord Ayyappa.

The Sabarimala Karma Samiti (SKS) which is an umbrella organization of various Hindu outfits has called for a statewide bandh in Kerala after two women, in their 40s, entered the hilltop shrine of Lord Ayyappa in the early hours of Wednesday.

Over 1,000 women formed a human chain in Mumbai to express solidarity with the 'Women's Wall' formed in Kerala as part of an initiative to uphold gender equality amid the row over the entry of females of certain ages in the Sabarimala temple.

On Wednesday, Sabarimala Temple was shut down at 10:30 AM and will be opened an hour later, after 'purification' rituals as two women devotees entered it around 3:45 AM.

In yet another failed attempt, 11 women who were on their way to Sabarimala Temple in Kerala returned without paying respects to Lord Ayyappa.

On Tuesday, BSNL suspended activist-model Rehana Fathima after she was arrested for hurting sentiments of the followers of Lord Ayyappa through a Facebook post.

28 people were taken into preventive custody at the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala late yesterday night after fresh protests broke out at Nadapanthal area in Sannidhanam, where hundreds of devotees agitated against the police restrictions.

Late on Sunday night, nearly 70 people were detained from the Sabarimala temple in Kerala triggering protests all over the state including the house of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Spearheading a campaign against the Kerala government over the Sabarimala issue, state BJP chief PS Sreedharan Pillai alleged the CPI(M)-led dispensation was making the Lord Ayyappa shrine "a center of dispute to destroy its uniqueness."

Sabarimala Karma Samiti, an umbrella organization for outfits of Hindu groups opposing the Supreme Court order, has called a state-wide shutdown in Kerala after Hindu Aikya Vedi state President, KP Sasikala was detained on Saturday morning.

Pune-based activist Trupti Desai faced angry protesters on reaching Kochi Airport in Kerala early Friday morning.

The BJP today embarked on a Rath Yatra from Kasaragod in Kerala to "protect" the traditions and rituals of the hill-shrine of Lord Ayyappa at Sabarimala, which recently witnessed violent protests against the entry of women of menstruating age group.

A cameraman of a Malayalam television news channel was attacked, allegedly by angry devotees at Sabarimala's Lord Ayyappa temple complex today, when he was filming a protest organized to prevent the entry of a woman, whom devotees suspected to be of menstrual age.

A thick police force has been put in place near Sabarimala Temple, as the hill shrine in Kerala opens for a special puja on Monday.

Several Hindu outfits in Kerala agitating against the entry of women of menstrual age into the Sabarimala Temple have urged media outlets not to depute women journalists to cover the issue as the Lord Ayyappa temple is set to open Monday for a special puja.

BJP President Amit Shah launched a blitzkrieg on the Kerala government on Saturday as he dived into the row surrounding the Sabarimala Temple saying the Left was insulting the devotees of Lord Ayyappa.

Despite the Supreme Court's order last month, women of menstrual age weren't allowed to enter the holy shrine of Lord Ayyappa in Kerala, and now the Sabarimala Temple has closed its doors.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday attacked the BJP and RSS for the violent agitation at the Lord Ayyappa temple complex in Sabarimala over the entry of women of all ages into the hill shrine.

Wading into the ongoing row pertaining to women's entry in Sabarimala, Union Minister Smriti Irani asked if anyone would take blood-soaked pads to their friend's house.

As the Sabarimala row in Kerala refuses to die down, Ayyappa devotees on Sunday prevented two Telugu-speaking women from climbing the holy hills.

Religion is the last resort of cowards. Where logic ends, religion starts. And, in this time and age, we don't need religion.

Two women (including a journalist) who were on the verge of scripting history as they started the trek to reach the Sabarimala temple of Lord Ayyappa in Kerala on Friday, returned midway.

In the fierce attempts of Lord Ayyappa devotees to prevent women of all age groups from entering Sabarimala temple, a Delhi-based woman journalist was stopped midway, while she was trekking the Sabarimala Hill today.

In yet another move to defy the Supreme Court verdict allowing women of the menstrual age group to enter the Sabarimala temple, Hindu outfits in Kerala called for a hartal.

Kerala Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran today sought to turn the tables on RSS on the Sabarimala issue, claiming that Sangh leaders had moved Supreme Court in 2006, seeking entry of women into Lord Ayyappa's shrine.

The Travancore Devaswom Board which administers the Lord Ayyappa Temple of Kerala will move court with a review petition after Friday's verdict of Supreme Court, which ended the ban on women's entry in the ancient temple.