TDB passes resolution opposing Supreme Court verdict allowing women’s entry into Sabarimala temple

TDB passes resolution opposing women's entry into Sabarimala, aiming to uphold temple traditions amid upcoming Supreme Court review.

The Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) on Monday (March 2, 2026) passed a landmark resolution opposing the 2018 Supreme Court verdict permitting women of menstruating age to worship at the Sabarimala Temple.

The TDB resolution has immense political ramifications, given the long-standing demand of the electorally significant Hindu social organisations, chiefly the Nair Service Society (NSS), and belatedly the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), that the government uphold Sabarimala custom and tradition, including the bar on women of childbearing age entering the temple.

Also Read | Sabarimala women entry: Supreme Court’s 9-judge Constitution Bench to begin review hearing from April 7

TDB president K. Jayakumar told a press conference that the resolution would serve as the basis for the affidavit the Board would file with the Supreme Court when the justices meet to review the 2019 order on April 14.

Mr. Jayakumar said the TDB’s position was not anything new. “The Board was constituted (in 1949 under the Covenant for the Formation of the United States of Travancore and Cochin) to protect temple traditions (under the provisions of the Travancore-Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act XV of 1950).”

Mr. Jayakumar said that various earlier Board leaderships had opposed women’s entry in principle, but never adopted it as a resolution. “It’s the TDB’s default legal position. Protecting temple traditions is core to the TDB’s constitution”, he said.