Menstruation has been prohibited in India’s social structure from the dawn of time – menstrual women have long been regarded as dirty or wicked. From the time a girl begins to menstruate, she is taught to speak only in whispers about the subject; she is forbidden to enter the kitchen, touch the food, or even eat several things during ‘those five days’; she is forbidden to visit temples and is instructed to sleep on the floor in a separate room, among many other primitive restrictions. She would ‘pollute’ everything and everyone around her if she did not follow these standards.
Menstruation is one of the key factors contributing to the rising number of girls in underdeveloped nations dropping out of school. In India, around 23% of the population is female. The lack of suitable infrastructure, unsanitary bathrooms in schools, and inadequate menstrual protection, all of which compromise the right to privacy, are the causes of a huge number of dropouts.
Several sectors of the modern Indian youth are depressed as a result of social ills associated with menses. This is a cause for considerable concern and thought.
The origin of menstruation as a curse is described briefly in Hindu mythology, leading to societal taboo.
Menstruation has a long history of being associated with Lord Indra’s sin, according to the Bhagwada Purana. When Lord Indra disobeyed Brihaspati, the latter lost both his superhuman abilities and his dominion. The demons took control of his throne. He sought help from Lord Brahma right away. Lord Brahma advised Indra to make restitution by treating a young child, a bramha-gyani, as his guru until Brihaspati was happy. The tiny youngster was a demon’s son. As a result, when Indra discovered that the youngster offered yagna-havis (offerings) to both Gods and demons, he killed him.
Indra was accused of killing a Brahmana when the young boy died. The curse he inflicted on himself manifested as a ferocious monster who pursued him wherever he went. After years of hiding in a flower, he eventually decided to pray to Lord Vishnu. Finally, Vishnu appeared and absolved him of his sin. Indra, on the other hand, was unable to totally erase the wrongdoing from his thoughts.
He shared a fourth of his sins with four pious earthly creatures–trees, water, soil, and women–in order to be free of the sin. Indra’s sin manifested itself in the form of sap in trees, froth in water, sterility or barren places on Earth, and women’s menstrual blood. He bestowed a gift on each of them in exchange for suffering the sin: trees could regenerate from their roots, water could purify everything, the Earth could heal from its fissures over time, and women would have more sexual intercourse than men.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: https://theswaddle.com/from-riches-to-rags-the-evolution-of-menstrual-taboos-in-india/
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