THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Noted writer N S Madhavan has come forward asking several questions to those who oppose the supreme court verdict allowing women to enter Sabarimala.

“How old are ‘very old’ customs of Sabarimala? Entry of women to the shrine was banned by law only as late as 1972 since some male worshippers took offence. Before that women used to go there for worship, more so, after roads were built for a Rashtrapathi visit. The order was ineffectual. In 1986 a Tamil film was shot with actresses dancing on 18 steps. Devaswom Board charged Rs 7500 for shooting rights. In a subsequent public interest litigation (PIL), The High Court of Kerala completely banned women between ages of 10 and 50 in 1990. Justice Indu Malhotra who spoke about beliefs missed the point that a court imposed ban can be reversed by superior court. Another ‘age-old’ custom is singing of lullaby Harivarasanam’ at 10.55 pm. This was started in 1955. Music maestro Devarajan master set tune to it. But in certain matters customs don’t matter. Like the Brahmin priestly family, which has a word on all temple matters, there was another family associated with the temple - a low-caste Ezhava family. It is said that Ayyappa learned martial arts from them. The family had monopoly rights over vedi vazhippadu ( gun salute homage). The Travancore devaswom board abruptly removed them sometime back and put the rights to public auction. See, it is not gender alone, but upper caste narratives are also on play”, said N S Madhavan