Two women made history by sneaking into one of India's holiest Hindu temples before dawn yesterday/WED in defiance of hardline activists blockading the shrine from female worshipers.

The Sabarimala temple in southern Kerela has been at the centre of a highly politically charged stand-off after the Supreme court lifted a centuries-old ban on women of menstrual age from praying inside it.

Violence erupted as news spread that the two women in their 40s had defied traditionalists, backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), by entering the temple for the first time since the landmark court ruling.

Police fired tear gas, stun grenades and used water cannon as clashes between rival groups erupted across the southern state of Kerala, local media reported. Several officers were reportedly injured.

The two women entered the temple under police escort around 3.45am local time, and left undetected a short while later after offering prayers inside the shrine.