THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India: Protests and violence erupted in southern India yesterday after two women defied traditionalists to enter one of Hinduism's holiest temples for the first time since a landmark court ruling. Police fired tear gas, stun grenades and water cannon as protests and clashes between rival groups erupted across the southern state of Kerala, local media reported, with several officers injured. The Supreme Court in September overturned a centuries-old ban on women of menstruating age - deemed as those between 10 and 50 - setting foot inside the gold-plated Sabarimala temple.

In recent weeks Hindu traditionalists - backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - have prevented attempts by women to access the hilltop site, with some hardliners turning violent. But in a surprise predawn operation yesterday that was heralded by activists but that enraged conservative devotees, police enabled two women to penetrate the temple and then leave again undetected, officials confirmed. Video images showed the 42-year-old women, Kanaka Durga and Bindu Ammini, wearing black tunics with their heads bowed as they rushed in. "We did not enter the shrine by climbing the 18 holy steps but went through the staff gate," one of the women later told reporters.

As soon as news of yesterday's breach spread, the temple head priest ordered the shrine closed for a purification ritual. It reopened after around an hour. Later clashes were reported between scores of people chanting slogans in front of the state parliament in Kerala's state capital Thiruvananthapuram. Some reportedly set fire to tyres. The standoff petered out around five hours later after police intervened. Five female protesters who tried to barge into the state parliament were arrested.

Journalists were also assaulted in Thiruvananthapuram and in the city of Kollam while clashes were reported elsewhere. Police with batons charged at demonstrators who were trying to enforce a shutdown of shops and businesses in the area called for by the Sabarimala temple hierarchy. Public bus services were suspended after protesters blocked their path and pelted vehicles with stones.

Modi's government did not immediately react to news of the women entering the temple, but activists celebrated. "Watching the visuals of them making their way into the shrine makes me cry in joy - how long it has taken for us to claim space, to write our way into history," wrote feminist author Meena Kandasamy on Twitter. "This is a good beginning for women in the new year," said activist Trupti Desai.

The possibility of more confrontations was raised by a call from an umbrella group of rightwing Hindu groups in Kerala, the Sabarimala Karma Samithi, which is supported by the BJP, for a state-wide protest strike today. The BJP called for protesters to be peaceful. Earlier, the Kerala state president of the BJP described the women's visit as "a conspiracy by the atheist rulers to destroy the Hindu temples". The party's state president, P S Sreedharan Pillai, told TV channels the BJP would "support the struggles against the destruction of faith by the Communists". "Let all the devotees come forward and protest this," he said.

Officials from the main opposition Congress party in the state, in a rare alignment with their main rival for power at the national level, the BJP, also called for protests. "This is treachery … The government will have to pay the price for the violation of the custom," K Sudhakaran, vice-president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, said in a statement.

The state government defended its decision to protect the women as they went into the temple, saying it was a matter of civil rights. "I had earlier made it clear that the government will provide protection if any women come forward to enter the temple," said Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Vijayan told a news conference the women faced no obstruction yesterday. It was not immediately clear how they managed to avoid devotees guarding the temple.

September's verdict was the latest progressive ruling from the court, with judges also overturning bans on gay sex and adultery last year - posing a challenge to Modi's traditionalist BJP. In rare comments regarding the Sabarimala temple on Tuesday, Modi - running for a second term in elections later this year - appeared to support the ban, saying the matter was related to tradition. "There are some temples which have their own traditions, where men can't go. And men don't go," Modi told Indian media.

The restriction on women at Sabarimala, situated on top of a 915-m hill in a tiger reserve that takes hours to climb, reflects a belief - not exclusive to Hinduism - that menstruating women are impure.

Traditionalists argue also that the temple deity, Ayyappa, was celibate. Repeated efforts by women to enter the temple since September have been angrily rebuffed by Hindu devotees with police having to step in to escort them away to safety. The Supreme Court is to start hearing a legal challenge to its ruling on Jan 22. Women are still barred from a handful of Hindu temples in India. The entry of women at Sabarimala was taboo for generations and formalized by the Kerala High Court in 1991. - Agencies