Exclusivity अधिकार-भेदः

Allowence for tradition-specific exclusive ritual spaces and beliefs

• “As it is in a diverse, polytheist society, every group of Hindus, has a general right to create its own traditions and develop an exclusive ritual space for its own needs. The rural traditions centred around their local, village pantheons as well as the tribal systems had their own separate, sacred spaces. Even then, brāhmaṇa-s, who overwhelmingly were responsible for developing the śrauta, gṛhya, paurāṇika and āgamika ritual content, were interested in expanding access for their non- brāhmaṇa brethren.” [AS17]

Motivations

• Generating ritual spaces condusive for following a set of observations and prohibitions, leading to increased dominance of the “higher self” over the “lower self”. एतैर् एव नियमैर् वर्धते भक्तेषु तपः संयमश्च।
• Express desires or nature of a deity.
  • देवायतनेषु तत्रत्य देवस्य विधिनिषेधपूर्वकनियमा एव प्रधानाः, न पुनर् मानुषाणाम् अल्पबुद्धीनां नानामोहग्रस्तानां कल्पनाः। तेषां हि पालनेन तत्तन्मन्दिरे तत्तद्देवताचैतन्यं दृढं प्रकाशेत।
  • “Just as the image at Sabarimala symbolizes Ayyappa, so the non-entry of women belonging to a certain age-group symbolizes Ayyappa’s celibacy. If the Lord is described as celibate and his celibacy must somehow be communicated to the world, one way of doing it would be to not allow women of certain age groups access him. The devotees have an inherent understanding of what the symbolic act of not allowing women stands for. It is not so much about not allowing women as it is about communicating to the world that Ayyappa is a celibate. The perverted activists, on the other hand, divest the act of all its symbolic significance. Non-entry of women into the temple now becomes a matter that concerns women. It no longer has anything to do with Ayyappa’s celibacy. It is not that the celibate nature of the Lord will be affected if women between the ages of 10-50 yrs approach his image. Only that we will be left with some unpleasant cognitive dissonance, thanks to the mismatch between entry of women in the reproductive age group (that cannot become a symbol of what must be symbolized, namely, Ayyappa’s celibacy) and the celibate nature of the Lord (that must be symbolized through the act of non-entry by women of reproductive age group).”

Example

• shaiva dIxita-s of chidambaram/ tillai and Adishaiva-s (TW), a temple exclusively officiated by married dalit women [NDTV18].
• " Pushkar in Rajasthan has a Brahma temple where married men are not allowed inside the ‘sanctum sanctorum’ (‘garbhagriha’)."
• In shabarimala temple, mensturating women are not allowed traditionally (only the sick Supreme court interference changed that).

Consequences

• See jAti-varna etc.. here.