Celebrating Menstruating Goddess, This Kerala Temple Establishes Cultural Significance Of Periods In Modern World

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Menstruation! It’s a word that has been shot with nails of stigma and misconceptions. For the longest time, periods have been considered a ‘taboo’ in India. While a large canopy of the country still seems to be immersed in the belief that period blood is ‘impure’, there is a Kerala temple which celebrates it! The Mahadeva Temple is located in Chengannur in the district of Alappuzha. Famous all over the world for celebrating the menstruation festival, the temple stands by the western bank of the holy river Pamba in a vast complex. With Goddess Parvati as the deity, the celebration of menstrual blood marks its own significance. It is especially notable in the Indian cultural context because for the longest time women have been banished from entering the temples while they are on their periods.

The Celebration

The celebration is known as “Thripputhu Aaraatt” and it attracts devotees from all over the world. During the festival, some people come down for its religious significance while some to observe this unique tradition. The festival is said to begin when the Goddess in the sanctum who is Parvati, starts to bleed. Once the menstrual cycle of the Goddess begins, the sanctums are shut for a period of three to five days. It is said that if a devotee prays during this time in all honesty, all his wishes can come true. The last day of the menstrual cycle which is usually believed to be the fourth day, the deity is taken to the river for the holy ablution with a great pomp and show. After the ceremonial observance at the river, the deity is then carried back on an elephant. At this point even the idol of Lord Shiva is brought together in the procession which is celebrated exuberantly.

Cultural Significance

Every time a girl bleeds, she is considered “impure” and in many cases even isolated. Apart from the fractional few, menstruating women even now have to go through a number of cultural subjugation and prejudice. One of the many restrictive taboos involves being outrightly denied entry in the places of worship even within the household. These prejudices take a major toll on the overall esteem of a girl by reinforcing the taboo that they suddenly become less human when on their periods. When such a socio-cultural life of a woman is so manifest in reality even today, a spin back to the age old tradition of celebrating menstruation of Goddesses plays a major role in combating regressive practises.

The flipside

It is an acknowledged fact that everything must be looked at from the critical lens for an evolved understanding. People flock in large numbers to the Mahadeva temple that celebrates and embraces womanhood but somehow fail to acknowledge the same respect for women in real lives. What is, however, practiced in many households is the ablution part where it is made ‘obligatory’ for them to take a head bath on the last day of their periods to make them ‘pure’ again. It echoes the ablution of Goddess Parvati in the Mahadeva Temple on the fourth day or the last of the believed menstrual cycle.

In conclusion

Even today, excluding maybe a fractional percentage, women are ostracized from participating in activities that are considered “sacred”. The restrictive practices not just makes a woman feel ‘not enough’ but it also rips apart her social confidence in unimaginable ways. While it is true that It is still a long way from disinfecting menstruation from all taboos, this ancient Indian culture of worshiping menstruating Goddess sure comes off as an example that periods, if anything, are not ‘unholy’ and equally deserve respect and acknowledgement.

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You know that you are living in a messed up country when a state’s Chief Minister who says, “I feel that the marriage age of daughters should be increased from 18 to 21 years”, also says, “A new system will be used to safeguard working women, under which any woman moving out of her house for her work will register herself at the local police station, and she will be tracked for her safety”.

Main roun ya hasun, karun main kya karun?

While I contemplate if I should laugh or cry, I realize that a surprise reaction is now normal for us as women of this country. How is this a solution, I wonder? Instead of coming up with a system to track harassers, molesters and rape accused, here the onus is again on the woman to sacrifice her liberty, privacy, and her fundamental rights of basic existence to protect herself.

As women continue to pave their way with struggles and difficulties in a man’s world, and while the men in authority struggle to find ways to curb crimes against women, the easiest solution they have found is to cage women. Not just now. Every time. How easy right?!

The idea of always monitoring women, snatching their liberty and privacy is an easier solution than questioning the incapacity of the police to do their jobs. Instead, a system is devised to track working women, just like how animals are fitted with a tracking system or devices with a GPS. This is nothing but an apparatus to make us women conform all the more than we already were.

Being eve teased? Don’t wear provocative clothes.

Getting raped? Don’t go out at night.

Men will be men, they will commit crimes and rapes.

You just need to be more careful as a woman.

Because men can’t keep it in their pants or control their provocative gaze at lady parts, let’s just ask women to cover up themselves, no matter the comfort level or the weather conditions. That way we men won’t get tempted to look at them.

And when women question this we will objectify them by equating them candies and precious stones which need to be covered or protected.

In a country where we already have it hard to live a free life as a woman, think what will happen if this system comes into place?

Imagine these scenarios:

· If a woman refuses to get tracked and later gets harassed, she will be held responsible.

· Moral policing will happen based on where they go, what they do.

· As always, it will be easy to blame women for any untoward incidents because “she meets so many men, goes to clubs, drinks,” etc.

· Parents and husbands will bribe police officers and to monitor their daughters and wives.

Men in authority have mansplained women’s roles to suit their agenda. I really want to know why women are not involved in such decision-making? Oh wait, they are! Remember how a senior member of the National Commission for Women (NCW) suggested, “Women should avoid going out after dark,” after a 50-year-old Anganwadi worker was allegedly gang-raped in a temple, brutalized and killed the village in UP’s Badaun? She even said that this incident wouldn’t have occurred had a male member accompanied her.

Are you laughing or crying now? Wait, here are a few other times politicians have made some bizarre statements that continue to attack basic human rights:

· Boys will be boys, they commit mistakes- Samajwadi Party supremo

· Two men raping a woman cannot be termed as gang rape- Former Karnataka Home Minister

· If a woman is caught (in a rape case), then both she and the boy should be punished- SP’s State President

· Best way to curb India’s population growth is to provide electricity to Indian villages so that couples spend their time watching TV instead of procreating and increasing the population- Former Health and Family Welfare Minister

· Crimes against women won’t happen in “Bharat” or the rural areas of the country. You go to villages and forests of the country and there will be no such incidents of gang-rape or sex crimes- RSS Chief

· Women shouldn’t participate in protests- Chief Justice

· Hindu women shouldn’t do interfaith marriage- UP CM

· Women should just be housewives- RSS Chief

· Girls can reproduce at 15, so why should their marital age be increased from 18 to 21?- MP Congress Leader

Shocked yet? Let me tell you one more.

Daniel Shravan, a filmmaker, had suggested that every woman should carry a condom at a rapist’s disposal so that they can offer them a hassle-free experience. He also took to Facebook (the post has now been deleted) where he posted a number of messages where he proposed a “rape without violence” scheme which will at least assure women that they will not die. This was after the December 2019 Hyderabad’s vet doctor’s rape and murder.

This is the mentality of many. They refuse to see the problem and when they do, they try to shift blame or come up with convenient, easy solutions that benefit the perpetrator instead of the victim. And if they are people in power, the solution should be one that makes their work easier.

Also Read https://infano.care/domestic-violence-cases-see-no-end/