Probe into temple complex entry by Sabarimala priest's daughter

Kerala Minister for Devasom V.S. Sivakumar Monday ordered a probe into reports that the daughter of the Sabarimala temple priest (melshanti) entered the temple complex flouting a ban on the entry of women.

The rules of the famed Hindu temple at Sabarimala, situated on the Western Ghat ranges, four km uphill from Pampa in Pathanamthitta district, bar entry of women aged between 10 and 50 years into the temple complex.

The minister said Travancore Devasom Board secretary K.R. Jyothilal would conduct the probe and submit the report at the earliest.

Various TV channels last week Wednesday first aired the news that the 12-year-old daughter of the Sabarimala temple priest was spotted in a crowd of devotees going up to the temple, located on a hillock.

When a police official spotted the girl, he stopped the group and after being told that she was the daughter of the "melshanthi", she was allowed to go along with the group.

According to reports, volunteers at the temple top raised this issue and the girl was told to return. However, it was only Saturday night that the girl was brought down from the hill-top temple complex.

In 2006, too, there was an uproar when Kannada actress Jaimala revealed that she touched the famed Sabarimala deity in 1987, violating the age-old temple tradition.