A woman has climbed a mountain in India, where only men were allowed until now for religious reasons.
Dhanya Sanal's ascent to the summit of Agasthyakoodam in southern Kerala state came after a court ruling in November 2018
Local tribespeople oppose women climbing it because of its statue of a Hindu sage associated with celibacy.
n November, the high court in Kerala ruled that women could trek to the 1,868m (6,128ft) peak. The court said that restrictions on trekking could not be based on gender after a women's group petitioned the court.
The group welcomed Ms Sanal's climb.
"We have moved one step ahead in ending gender discrimination in Kerala," Divya Divakaran, one of its members, told
Located within a biosphere reserve in India's Western Ghats, Agasthyakoodam is the second highest peak in Kerala.
The high court rejected the claim made by tribespeople, who live at the foothills, that the verdict hurt their beliefs.
They had said they worshipped the sage, Agastya, and did not want women in the vicinity of his idol as that amounted to disrespecting his celibacy.
The terrain is steep and rocky and the trail is inside a thick forest. Trekkers often take two or three days to scale the peak.
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