A third woman has crossed the threshold into the sacred Hindu Sabarimala temple in southern India, defying a centuries-old ban on women of menstruating age — between the ages of 10 and 50 — from entering the shrine, according to Reuters.
The act comes just days after two other women were able to get in, which threw the state of Kerala into violent protests for two days.
The woman, a 46-year-old Sri Lankan national identified by NDTV as Sasikala, entered the temple with her husband on Thursday, reports NPR’s Mumbai correspondent Lauren Frayer. “According to ancient tradition, the Sabarimala temple doesn’t admit women old enough to menstruate. The temple is dedicated to a celibate deity,” she said.
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