NEW DELHI, January 2 -- Two women in India's southern Kerala state have breached a centuries-old ban on entering an ancient Hindu temple, despite strong protests by right-wing conservative groups. Bindu and Kanakadurga, who were in their forties, walked into the Sabarimala Temple at 3:45am on Wednesday, according to the ANI news agency. The temple had been closed off to women of menstruating age until India's Supreme Court overturned the ban in September. However, opponents of the ruling continued to block women between the ages fof 10 and 50 from entering the shrine. "Today, two women entered Sabarimala Temple. We had issued standing orders to police to provide all possible protection to any woman who wants to enter the temple," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told reporters in Kerala's capital city, Trivandrum. A video posted online by ANI showed the two women, clothed in black, hurriedly walking into the temple. They offered prayers there. The temple was briefly shut down following the move for a "purification ritual" by priests. According to the Sabarimala temple's website, women of menstruating age were not allowed to enter the shrine because its deity, Lord Ayyappa, was celibate. Since the top court's verdict, Hindu hardliners, opposed to the decision, have attacked female pilgrims, threatened journalists and pelted police with stones. On Tuesday, tens of thousands of women in Kerala formed a 620-km human chain "in support of gender equality" from Kasargod in the north to the capital, Trivandrum.
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