In all her ordinariness, Gayatri Khasnis, a deeply-religious 39-year-old housewife, would not have imagined that she would be the harbinger of change. All she wanted to do on a wintry January 7 day earlier this year was to seek divine blessings for a new house that her family was building. But when she entered the Kumaraswamy temple at Sandur in Karnataka's Bellary district, she became the first woman to step into the complex in the temple's 1,000-year history. All that she could say about the implication of what she had done was: "I was the only woman there."The temple, built by the Chalukyas and now a protected monument, has for centuries been out of bounds for women. It was discovered by the local rulers, the Ghorpades, in the thickly-wooded Swamimalai hill in the 15th century, and they decided to endorse the local lore that said women could not enter the temple. The women were allowed to worship at the Parvati and Shiva shrines adjacent to the Kumaraswamy temple, but special tin barricades and a curtain were hung across the precinct to prevent women from taking a peek at the idol of Kumaraswamy.According to the octogenarian high priest of the temple, Shankara Bhat Joshi, there's a special reason for this discriminatory attitude. "We believe that Shiva's son Kumaraswamy does not want to look at a woman," he explains. Legend has it that when his mother Parvati found a bride for him, Kumaraswamy was shocked to find that the bride looked like her..preferred-source-banner{ margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom:10px;} He not only decided then to forego matrimony but also vowed never to look at any other woman. In deference to Kumaraswamy's wishes, the temple's priests banned women from the temple. Myths began circulating, and it was even believed that women who violated the code by entering the sanctuary disguised as men vomited blood or were stricken with diseases.Not that today's woman gives any credence to such tales. "Women were forced to believe in these rumours because men had the upper hand," says Sunita Ghogale from the neighbouring Hubli town. "I don't think that any god would believe in gender discrimination." The Cambridge-educated scion of the ruling family and head trustee of the Kumaraswamy temple, Murarirao Yeshwantrao Ghorpade, a former Congress finance minister of Karnataka, also felt that religion should not discriminate. Kumaraswamy, the son of shiva and parvati, is believed to have vowed never to look at a woman, and so women were barred from his temple.Despite his progressive outlook, he still had to wait for two months after the death of his father Yeshwantrao Hindurao Ghorpade in October 1996 before lifting the ban on women. "Certain traditions and sentiments had to be respected. Changes cannot come suddenly," he says.The change, when it came, was without fanfare. On January 5 this year, reporters met Ghorpade after a requiem prayer for his father's soul and inquired about the issue of allowing women into the temple. "Yes, women can enter the temple. There should be no problems," he said laconically. One of the Ghorpades, rulers of Sandur since the 13th century, had finally mustered the courage to change history.Although the three priests at the temple aren't too happy about the new development, they are reconciled to the change. "This is another indication of streerajya (women's power). There is no way you can beat it," says Joshi. After the ban was lifted, nearly 3,000 women have worshipped at the temple. Not all prayers, however, are answered. Shantala Devi has visited the temple four times in five months. "I want to get a job abroad and this is my fifth prayer to Kumaraswamy," she says. "If this attempt fails, I will not bother to come back."The Ghorpades, well loved and respected by the locals, had declared the temple open to Harijans as early as the 1930s. After learning of this on his visit to Sandur in 1934, Mahatma Gandhi said, "A small state in south India has opened the temple to the Harijans, the heavens have not fallen." Neither did they fall 60 years later.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Dec 1, 1997--- ENDS ---
