[13] However, the young woman was persistent, so Ayyappan promised to marry her the day "kanni-swamis" , or new devotees, stopped visiting Sabarimala Temple.

[14] According to the Memoir of the Survey of the Travancore and Cochin States, women of reproductive age had been denied entry to the Sabarimala temple since at least the 19th century.

[18][19] In 1986, when young actresses Jayashree, Sudha Chandran, Anu, Vadivukkarasi and Manorama danced near the deity at the pathinettam padi (18 steps) for the Tamil movie Nambinar Keduvathillai, a fine of Rs.

[23] In 1995, the district collector Valsala Kumari, aged 42, visited the Sabarimala shrine (although she did not climb the pathinettam padi to the inner sanctum) under special permission.

[23] The verdict was announced in 1991, when Justices K. Paripoornan and K. Balanarayana Marar of the Kerala High Court banned women and girls between 10 and 50 years of age from Sabarimala.

[27] The final decision of the court was as follows:[28] Such restriction (of women) imposed by the Devaswom Board is not violative of Articles 15, 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India.

[31] The court stated: We have no hesitation in saying that such an exclusionary practice violates the right of [a woman] to visit and enter a temple, to freely practise Hindu religion and to exhibit her devotion towards Lord Ayyappa.

J. Sai Deepak, the lawyer representing two women's groups and a devotee sangam in the Supreme Court case,[36] has argued that the deity Ayyappan should be regarded as a person, giving him the constitutional right to privacy under Article 21.

[41] A statement by the president of the Travancore Devaswom Board stated that allowing women into the temple will lead to 'immoral activities' and turn the place into 'a spot for sex tourism, like Thailand'.

[42][43] Another argument is that the Sabarimala temple is situated at the top of a hill surrounded by mountains and dense forests, which some regard as physically challenging for women to navigate.

[46] Activists, such as the Dalit public intellectual, Sunny M. Kapicadu, see the struggle as a continuation of Kerala renaissance which sought to undo centuries of caste and gender inequality and oppression.

He opines that the shrine was originally a "cult spot" for a tribal deity, Ayyanar, of local forest dwellers before it became a place of worship for Ayyappa in the 15th century.

Unlike traditional Hindu myth (created by mistranslation of texts) that menstruation is impure, the tribal people considered it to be auspicious and a symbol of fertility.

[60][61] A 46-year-old woman who claimed that "her body was full of divine power from Ayyappa, motivating her to climb Sabarimala" was denied police protection.

[62] Another female journalist and the president of Kerala Dalit Mahila Federation also had to leave without reaching the deity due to the actions of protesters.

[63] A female Dalit activist, despite being accompanied by police, was attacked at various places by mobs on her way to Sabarimala and decided to return after reaching Pamba.

[64] Trupti Desai, women's rights activist and founder of Bhumata Brigade, was blocked by protesters at Cochin International Airport on 16 November 2018 while on her journey to Sabarimala.

[68] In the period following the Supreme Court verdict, a total of seven hartals were organised in Kerala by various Hindu groups under the flag of the Sabarimala Karma Samithi.

[69] The BJP called for this hartal in response to alleged police violence against Prakash Babu, state president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, during a protest march held on 6 October 2018.

"[75] The Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, held "RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh)-driven upper caste religious fanatics" responsible for the violent agitation.

[76] The Indian National Congress also launched a protest demanding the state government file a review petition against the Supreme Court's verdict.

[81][82][83][84] Anticipating protests, IPC Section 144, which can be used to prevent the assembly of people in the possibility of danger, was declared at Sannidhanam, Pamba, Nilakkal and Elavunkal when the temple reopened for the 41-day Mandalam Makaravilakku pilgrim season on 16 November 2018.

[87][88][89][90][91] On 21 November, Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner P Prakash threatened Non-resident Indians with "getting their passports cancelled, and forcing [them] to return to India."

The police commissioner accused them of "inciting riots and fermenting trouble over the Sabarimala issue" and using social media to deliberately create instability in the region.

[93] The Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party launched separate protests demanding the state government revoke the Section 144 restrictions.

[103] On 26 December, thousands of Ayyapa devotees, mainly women, took part in Ayyappa Jyothi, an event organised by Hindutva groups to protest the Supreme Court verdict.

Offices, libraries and businesses related to the ruling Communist party were damaged, and incidents of street fights between CPI(M) and BJP cadres were reported in many places.

A hotel owned by Kerala Tourism Development Corporation at Chennai was also damaged by unidentified men protesting against women's entry to Sabarimala.

[127] The Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, confirmed that the pair had entered the temple, and underlined that the police force was duty-bound to give protection to anyone who asked for security.

[133] On 18 January 2019, the Government of Kerala informed the Supreme Court that, after Ammini and Kanakadurga, 51 women of reproductive age dodged protesters to enter the Sabarimala shrine.