Rig Veda tells the story of a battle between Lord Indra and his arch nemesis Vritrasur. After killing the demon who happened to be a Brahmin, Indra went into hiding, scared that he had participated in Brahma-hatya, a grave sin. Gods and learned men requested him to come back, assuring him that he could transfer his sin to others. Subsequently, he gave a quarter of his sin to the land, some of which turned to desert.
The next quarter he gave to water, which bubbled out in useless froth. The third part was given to trees, which grew sap. And finally, the fourth part he gave to women. The sin would revisit them every month, when they would bleed. And thus was menstruation born. Or so say our religious scriptures. Today, any school-going child knows that menstruation is a natural phenomenon that starts at adolescence and ends in middle age. It signifies that a woman is of child bearing age, no more, no less. [break]
It is not possible for any man or god to control it, much less make it pay for someone’s sins. And yet, a large part of the Nepali society continues to view menstruation as a sin. The consequence is that a lot of women, for no fault of theirs, are subjected to isolation and neglect for up to a week every month.
Menstruating women wait for their food to be served to them. Apart from not touching any man, they are also expected to stay away from the beds, sofas or cushions preferred by the male family members.
Traditionally, since even books and learning are supposed to be divine, women were not even allowed to read, especially when they were menstruating. The belief that plants will wither and trees stop bearing fruits if a menstruating woman touches them still persists in rural areas, where the consequences of impurity are severe for menstruating women. In many places, they are expected to stay in animal sheds so as not to sully the house for other ‘pure’ members, a practice which has led to the neglect, abuse, rape, and even death of women left alone at nights. The festival of Rishi Panchami represents the culmination of such atrocities, when women are supposed to apologize for the sin of menstruating every month.
Many claim that such rituals provide women the rest they need during menstruation, since as part of their ‘impurity’, women do not enter the kitchen during menstruation, and are excused from cooking. However, this logic only applies to urban women, because women in rural areas still perform labor-intensive tasks like fetching water and firewood, washing clothes or dishes, taking care of livestock, and various other agricultural tasks. In fact, the objective of the tradition seems to be more rooted in the notion of ‘impurity’ during menstruation.
Declaring women impure excludes them from important religious offices and from making rules and regulations governing religions. Since many cultural practices are based on religion, the exclusion of women from religion cements their cultural status as second class citizens in their own homes. Due to our tradition of not questioning old customs, our cultural practices, however irrational, are hard to eradicate.
As a result, women themselves have deeply internalized the concept of their impurity, which is perhaps the saddest part. In fact, women should realize that though menstruation is an inevitable biological process, the notion of impurity is a culturally constructed one. They need to stop apologizing for their menstruation, which, far from being a sin, is a function directly related to the existence of humanity itself.
Related story
World Blood Donor Day 2019: ‘Safe blood for all
