Indian police have fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse a large crowd of protesters in the southern Indian state of Kerala.
The protesters chanted, blocked roads and burned tyres in protest at two women entering one of Hinduism's holiest shrines.
Women or girls of menstruating age -- deemed to be those between 10 and 50 -- have been banned for centuries from entering the Sabarimala temple in Kerala's capital.
India's Supreme Court had ordered the ban be removed in September but the temple, which draws millions of worshippers each year, has refused to abide by the court ruling.
Subsequent attempts by women to visit the shrine have been blocked by thousands of devotees.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the Hindu nationalist BJP is among those who say the temple has the right to exclude women.
“India is of the view that everyone should get their due rights. There are some temples in India which have their own traditions that men should not enter a temple and men do not go there. In this temple, a female judge in the Supreme Court has made certain observations. It needs to be read minutely. There is no need to attribute those to any political party. As a woman too, she has made some suggestions. There should be a debate on that as well."
Video footage shows police helping the two women in their 40s enter and exit the temple in the early hours of the morning.
But once news got out of their visit, the temple's head priest ordered the shrine to be closed so the temple could be purified.
Conservative Hindu groups say women of menstruating age are impure and that they will defile the temple's inner shrine.
One of the protesters, S. J. R Kumar, says they will continue to demonstrate until the Supreme Court ruling is overturned.
"Throughout these days, throughout these months, on every occasion, we have reacted very peacefully. We have only done bhajans, 'mahabhajba yatras' (awareness devotional pilgrimage), 'yajnas' (holy fire ritual), and things like that. But the government, the present chief minister, especially, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan has been very adamant in taking young women to Sabarimala."
The Supreme Court is due to hear a legal challenge to its ruling later this month [[January 22]].
But Annie Raja, from the National Federation of Indian Women, has told Al-Jazeera it is not the law that is the problem.
"It is clearly an issue of politics, electoral politics. Why am I saying this? The devotees were there when these two women were entering. They did not object, they did not resist. They were very peaceful and silent, allowing these women to go and worship."
Venkat Nookala is Melbourne based devotee of Sabarimala temple.
He says, “Kerala government should take into account the wishes to Lord Ayyappa followers before acting in such a way.”
The uproar has put the issue of religion squarely on the political agenda months before a general election, which is due by May.
Regional Leader Jameela Prakasam says women should have the right to practise their faith, as men have.
"God is everywhere, but if I am drawn towards a particular place to have a rendezvous with the god, who is going to prevent me? That should be the attitude. This is for emboldening the women folk, this is for showing the women folk that this is your right."
