On 12 November 1936, Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the Maharaja of the princely state of Travancore in south India, issued a proclamation opening the state's Hindu temples to worshippers of all castes, including communities previously excluded as untouchable. The Maharaja was a minor at the time, and the decision was taken on the advice of the regent administration, working with senior officials who had been weighing temple entry reform for several years amid mounting public pressure.
The proclamation followed more than a decade of organized campaigning for temple access across south India, most prominently the Vaikom Satyagraha of 1924 to 1925, a sustained protest at the roads surrounding the Vaikom temple in Travancore, and later agitation at the Guruvayur temple, both of which drew support from Mahatma Gandhi and other national reform figures even where they did not achieve immediate temple entry themselves. The 1936 proclamation went considerably further than either earlier campaign had secured, converting a long contested local demand into state policy across the whole of Travancore at a stroke.
The proclamation is generally treated as one of the most significant acts of caste reform undertaken by an Indian ruler before independence, and it influenced later, broader legislative efforts, including provisions in independent India's constitution guaranteeing access to public Hindu temples regardless of caste.