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Women Cannot Wear Salwar Kameez Inside Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Rules Kerala High Court

Stepping back.
Indian women with children walking at the famous temple Sri Padmanabhaswamy.
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Indian women with children walking at the famous temple Sri Padmanabhaswamy.

The Kerala High Court today ordered that women should not be allowed to wear salwar kameez and churidars inside the famous Sri Padmanabhaswamy Temple, reported ANI.

This comes just days after the dress norms were relaxed for women at the temple.

In November, breaking an age-old tradition, the richest Hindu temple in the world put churidars on the allowed list, against the opinion of the chairman of the temple administrative committee, K Haripal, who wanted the present dress code maintained.

The order was the outcome of a petition filed by Thiruvananthapuram native Riya Raji in the Kerala High Court seeking its intervention after her petition to the administrative committee was rejected.

Earlier, to enter the shrine, women devotees had to wear a 'mundu' (dhoti) over their waist if they were attired in salwars or churidars.

Young girls below the age of 12 were allowed to wear gowns.

For men, it was a dhoti with or without an angavastram.

The custom was stopped from December 1, allowing women to enter in salwar kameez and churidar.

However, the move had sparked protests with many demanding that the age-old practice at the temple be restored.

Now, the Kerala High court has overturned the new rule and gone back to the old tradition of forcing women to wear mundus over their salwars and churidars.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.