AKIPRESS.COM - Two Indian women in their 40s have made history by entering a prominent Hindu shrine in the southern state of Kerala, after months of protests against women accessing it, BBC reports.

The Sabarimala temple was historically closed to women of "menstruating age" - defined as between 10 and 50.

The Supreme Court overturned that ban but protesters then attacked women and stopped them from entering the shrine.

Bindu Ammini, 42, and Kanaka Durga, 44 entered the shrine around dawn.

Temple officials, who say the women have "defiled" the temple, had closed the sanctum for an hour in order to perform "purification rituals".

A senior temple official told the BBC that the sanctum has now reopened.