Kerala: Women experts out of Padmanabhaswamy temple

Thiruvananthapuram: The Supreme Court-appointed expert panel that met here on Friday decided that no women members will enter any of the chambers at the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple for scientific evaluation of the temple treasure. The documentation of wealth at the temple was temporarily suspended on Thursday after temple authorities opposed the entry of a woman archaeological expert into the ‘A’ chamber. The evaluation process resumed soon after the expert panel communicated its decision to the temple administration. The temple administration had opposed the entry of women into chamber ‘A’ citing that it is against the custom followed by the temple.

Expert panel chairman M V Nair said the committee would not take any step that would affect the temple custom. “We don’t want to hurt religious sentiments. At the same time, we also don’t want to delay the inventorying. So, we have decided to go by the temple administration’s request and only male experts from Archaeological Survey of India will enter the chambers,” he said. Nair said that Supreme Court-appointed amicus curiae would visit the temple on Thursday.

The meeting also decided to start one more photography unit at the temple to monitor the evaluation process.

The Supreme Court-appointed expert panel decided that no women members will enter any of the temple chambers.

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