In March 1930, renowned Dalit rights activist Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and social reformer B.K. Gaikwad led a significant protest outside the Kala Ram Temple in Nashik. This demonstration, attended by numerous Dalits, demanded that lower-caste members be allowed entry into temples and sanctums, challenging long-standing discriminatory practices.
Fast forward to 2016, a landmark moment occurred following a Bombay High Court order. Two women defied traditional norms and stormed the main sanctum of the Shani Shingapur temple in Maharashtra, where previously women were prohibited from entering the main hall.
In 2019, the issue of temple access once again made headlines when several Dalit women were denied entry into a local Chamad Mandir in Khurja, Uttar Pradesh. Later that year, the Supreme Court of India announced it would reconsider its order prohibiting entry to all women aged 12 to 50 at the Sabarimala Temple in Kerala. This decision ignited one of the most heated debates regarding temple access.
The aforementioned headlines and news clips elucidate that certain members of Indian society, particularly menstruating women and lower-caste members, have traditionally been denied entry to sacred spaces such as temples. While Ambedkar's protest for Dalit entry into temples occurred before India's independence, more than seventy years of democratic governance have not changed people’s attitudes towards this issue. Newspapers continue to report the denial of entry to Dalits and women, which sometimes results in violent conflict and death too.
CASTE AND PURITY IN HINDU BELIEFS
Untouchability stems from Hindu beliefs about purity and pollution. Caste groups outside the traditional four-tier system (Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras) were labeled untouchables, and relegated to menial jobs like cleaning toilets and disposing of the dead. This belief system deemed them impure, justifying their exclusion from temples, hospitals, markets, and other public spaces.
Untouchables were forced to live in segregated areas, far from communal resources like wells and schools. Any contact with an untouchable necessitated a purification ritual for higher caste members, reinforcing the notion that lower castes were inherently impure and should not handle food or drink for higher castes.
If any upper caste member were to come in contact with an untouchable, a purification bath would cure them of the impurity and make them pristine again. Upper caste members would not drink water from a Shudra's home or eat food from a member of a caste lower than their own. They were adamant that touching, receiving, or accepting any object from a lower caste member, including food and water, would contaminate it. This idea is based on the assumption that all lower caste individuals are impure and so must not come in contact with eatables or drinks.
Endogamy and Hate Crimes
Several other caste restrictions are based on this false notion of purity. Endogamy, which involves marrying within one's caste or clan, is an example of the purity factor. Some tribes or caste groups believe that marrying beyond one's caste, particularly to a member of a lower caste, may bring impurities into the tribe. Violations of these norms often lead to hate crimes against those who marry outside their caste, particularly with lower caste members.
Contemporary Relevance of Purity and Pollution
Even today, the notion of purity and pollution dictates the lives of countless individuals in India. However, Hinduism is more than just a rigid caste system. Hinduism also emphasises tolerance and acceptance and teaches its followers to be inclusive of all religions. This openness and acceptance must be extended to members of the same religion as well. Manusmriti's purity concept is discriminatory and repulsive. No one should be refused access to public facilities or venues. The Constitution of India lists the freedom to practise one’s religion as a fundamental right. Visiting temples and worshipping deities is a way of practising one’s religion, and therefore, this fundamental right must not be denied to anyone based on a redundant caste practise.
GENDER AND PURITY: THE MENSTRUATION TABOO
The same principle of purity and pollution was extended to menstruating women. In India and around the world, society shares a stigma pertaining to the discussion of menstruation, menstrual cramps, and sanitary napkins. Publicly acknowledging and conducting discourses of periods was considered taboo. To some extent, this taboo exists today as well.
Despite being a natural biological process, menstruation is often seen as impure. This belief has led to the exclusion of menstruating women from temples and religious ceremonies, perpetuating the idea that they contaminate sacred spaces. During her menstruation period, a woman's participation in celebrations or ceremonies was also considered sinful on her part. Her blood discharge contaminated the holy atmosphere, tainting both the purity of the tradition and the holy entity to whom it was dedicated.
Due to this reason, many temples disallowed women from entering the sanctum or holy shrine of its compound. While a woman may choose to not attend religious proceedings during her periods, banning her entrance limits her autonomy and taboos menstruation. Advocating for the ban on the entry of women to the Sabarimala temple, a former Education Minister said that menstruating women “desecrate” any place of worship because menstrual blood is polluted and impure. By placing a ban on menstruating women, temples and shrines indicate that this natural process is disgusting, dirty, and deplorable. However, it is critical to understand that menstruation is interconnected to fertility, which is a sacred concept too as many people, especially farmers, pray to female goddesses for fertility and prosperity.
LARGER ISSUE
While worshipping in temples is perhaps one of the biggest manifestations and controversies surrounding the purity notion, many other notions of impurity or pollution are unfounded. Regardless of one’s caste status, one must be provided access to clean drinking water, good food, and bathroom facilities, to name a few. One must not separate and isolate people from society because of their caste status. Efforts must be made to integrate lower castes into the larger society and understand their trials and tribulations. It is unethical and inhumane to use ancient Hindu texts to discriminate against those who are a part of our society.
AUTHOR
Prerana Thakur
Pratha Content Writer