Hundreds Of Women Converge On Shani Shignapur With An Aim To Break Barriers And Enter The Temple

Remember the time we told you about the Shani Shingnapur Temple where women were not allowed to enter? Well, the issue has really escalated now.

A women's organisation on Monday said its members will drop ladders from a helicopter and climb down to offer prayers at the 'chauthara' of Lord Shani temple in Ahmednagar district if they are not allowed access to its premises, to protest against the tradition prohibiting women to enter the platform.

"We have already booked a helicopter and if we are not permitted to enter from the open ground, we shall drop ladders from the chopper and descend. We are not scared of any security since women's rights are concerned," Trupti Desai, president of Bhumata Ranragini Brigade (BRB) said on Monday.

She had said around 1,500 women from all over Maharashtra shall troop down to the temple on Tuesday morning and perform prayers at the temple, dedicated to Lord Shani ¡ª the personification of planet Saturn.

And now reports suggest that scores of women have arrived on the scene and an agitation may happen soon. The Locals meanwhile have barred entry for outsiders and plan to form a human chain around the temple.

Shani Shingnapur Trustee board ki dadagiri nahi chalegi,hum mahilaen wahan puja kar ke rahengi-Trupti Desai,Activist pic.twitter.com/6aseznNlf9

¡ª ANI (@ANI_news) January 26, 2016

Desai said women must be permitted access inside the temple as the country's Constitution treats men and women equally. She also said that similar agitations will happen around India at all places which bar women from entering.

Meanwhile, police and the temple authorities have put up three levels of barricades, deployed a considerable force of women constables and village volunteers to guard the temple from Tuesday's likely onslaught by BRB activists.

The unique open temple has no walls or roof.

A self-emerged (svayambhu) five-foot-high black stone stands on a platform and is worshipped as Lord Shanidev.

The temple platform stands in the centre of the small village, also known as Sonai, and attracts millions of tourists and devotees from across the country and abroad.

However, barring the temple priests, none is permitted to climb the nine steps up to the actual stone idol that represents the deity. Everybody must only offer prayers from below the platform, said a temple trustee Prafull N Surpuriya.

Shani Shingnapur is globally known as the only village where houses do not have doors and locks, and the village remains theft-free.

Even the nationalised UCO Bank's branch in the village does not have locks on its doors.

Belief has it that thieves cannot steal or burgle in the village which is protected by Lord Shani, and misfortune and divine punishment would befall anyone who attempts to steal.

Although the temple itself has a much older history, the present form of management of its activities is over five centuries old, Surpuriya said.