Skip to main content

The Battle for the Sabarimala Temple

October 28, 2020

12:00 pm

The Cornell India Law Center presents:
The Battle for the Sabarimala Temple: Should women of menstruating age be prohibited from entering a Hindu temple?

In some societies, girls and women who are menstruating are considered polluted and untouchable. Should a Hindu temple in India be able to prohibit women of menstruating age from entering? That was the central question in a recent Indian Supreme Court case. The Court said that the Sabarimala temple must allow all women to enter, even those who could menstruate, in the decision IYLA v. State of Kerala. But now the Court is reconsidering that judgement. Please join the Cornell India Law Center in a conversation with University of Alabama Law Professor and legal anthropologist Deepa Das Acevedo about her new forthcoming book with Oxford University Press called The Battle for Sabarimala. Drawing on her longstanding ethnographic and legal research, Professor Das Acevedo will contextualize the dispute and explain its significance for religion-state relations and democratic governance in India. For more background information, you can read a summary of IYLA v. State of Kerala here and listen to an episode on religious freedom in India and the United States from the A Law in Common podcast.

Wednesday, October 28, 2020
12:00 PM ET
Virtual Event: Please register for the event here.

Additional Information

Program

South Asia Program

Einaudi Center for International Studies