Kartekeya temple at Pehowa where entry of women is prohibited.

Kurukshetra, January 27 --- Police action against a group of women trying to enter famous Shani shrine in Shingnapur village, 'breaching' the age-old practice of prohibiting entry of women on Tuesday, have brought various legends to fore to ban women entry to various temples in the country.

However, it's not just the famous Shani temple where the entry of women is prohibited.

Across India, there are myths and legends to support the theory of restricting entry of women in certain religious places. One such temple belonging to Shiva’s son Kartekeya, situated on the ancient Saraswati rivar at Pehowa, 22kms from here, is where entry of women is prohibited.

This temple also celebrates Brahmachari (celibate) form of Lord Kartikeya which bars women from entering the temple. Situated near the Pehowa tirath, the ancient structure is said to be from the 5th century BC and legend states that any women visiting the shrine may be cursed even if they visit seeking blessings.

(Photos- Kartekeya temple at Pehowa)

According to one legend,when Lord Kartikeya was doing meditation Lord Indra gets jealous that Brahma might give him more power than himself. So he plans to distract Lord Kartikeya by sending the most beautiful Apsaras. Lord Kartikeya gets angry and cursed that "any woman who comes to his place to distract him from his meditation shall turn into stone."

However, an eminent ‘Purohit’ from Pehowa Tirath, Subhash Polsatya narrates another legend stating that Kartekeya got angry with his mother Parvati, when his brother Ganesha, was declared winner by riding rat around ‘Shiva’ to get the Shiva’s empire.  Angry Kartekeya stated that his father was donor of his bones while he drew 0nly his skin from his mother. Being angry over the help Parvati provided to Ganesha, Kartekeya removed his skin here and cursed that any women seeing him in this form would get widowed in her next seven births.

When asked about any objection ever received by them from any woman, Subhash said that women get frightened after hearing the legend that woman would get ‘widowed’ following ‘darshan’ of the deity. So no woman ever objected to their ban on entering the temple. He said that according to Hindu traditions, after offering ‘pind-dan’ of the dead person at Pehowa tirath, men are taken to the Kartekeya temple nearby to offer mustered oil to cool the deity, while accompanying woman wait at Pehowa tirath.  

It may be recalled that a  large number of women tried to enter famous Shani shrine in Shingnapur village, 'breaching' the age-old practice of prohibiting entry of women on Tuesday, inviting police action.

Earlier, on Saturday, a woman in Maharashtra's Ahmednagar district entered and offered prayers at a famous Shani shrine in Shingnapur village, 'breaching' the age-old practice of prohibiting entry of women. This, obviously, didn't go well with the temple committee who suspended seven security men and carried out purification rituals the next.

Kurukshetra Police is yet to take action on suicide note left by a trader

Kurukshetra, January 8 --- Even five days after, a potato trader from village Umri, near here, Surinder Singh allegedly collapsed outside the office of Superintendent of Police, here after consuming poisonous substance, the local police is yet to take any further action on his suicide note.

Surinder Singh, who reached the office of SP on Monday evening and tried to meet the SP but collapsed in the waiting room, was rushed to a local private hospital where he died on Wednesday. The police station city Thanesar registered a case under section 309 IPC for attempt to suicide against Surinder Singh immediately after he was collapsed outside SP’s office.

It is learnt that Surinder Singh was carrying a written complaint against four persons including one commission agent and his son from Pipli grain market as well as one woman and her son-resident of sector 3, Urban Estate, here, alleging blackmailing and cheating. In his complaint he alleged that he owned Rs. 20 thousands of rupees in lieu of which the commission agent had taken a blank cheque from him. Later, they refused to hand over the blank cheque to him even after he gave them Rs. 20 thousands. He apprehended that they may misuse it against him.

When he could not meet the SP who was busy in a meeting, despite his telling the gate keeper that ‘veh kuchh he minto ka mehman hai’ (only few minutes are for him), he sat in the waiting room and wrote a five line note on the back side of the typed complaint being carried by him. In the note, which later turned out to be his suicide note he named a woman and her son from Sector-3 also holding them responsible for his death. 

Deceased’s brother, Sanjay Kumar told that Surinder Singh had made a complaint in this regard to the police station Sadar (Pipli) on January 1, last but the police did not took any action on it, which prompted him to visit SP’s office on Monday, where he consumed ‘sulphas’ in desperation when he was not allowed to meet SP.

When contacted, SP, Simardeep Singh, said that the police is veryfing the suicide note and investigating the allegation levelled by the deceased and his family. SHO, City, Ram Kumar said that the police had already taken the statements of the persons accused by the deceased and would investigate further before taking further action.