Women finally enter sanctum sanctorum of Trimbakeshwar temple

NASHIK: Women were finally allowed entry into the sanctum sanctorum of the Trimbakeshwar temple here on Thursday amid tight bandobast and a protest shutdown by the locals.

Pune-based Swarajya Mahila Sanghatna president Vanita Gatte, who led a three-member team into the sanctum of the temple, said they offered prayers at about 6.05 am.

This was a shift from the temple’s policy of restricting women’s entry to the inner sanctum, which has been the norm since the temple was built by the Peshwas in the mid-18th century.

Scared of police action, the trustees, priests and villagers did not offer resistance, but local merchants and villagers protested the darshan by women and obser-ved a complete bandh in Trimbakeshwar.

“We feel dhanya (blessed) to have taken darshan. We had to contest bitterly for this right and were even physically assaulted yesterday but this is a victory of stree shakti (women’s power),” Ms Gatte said.