In Sabarimala we, women, are prevented from approaching in fear of the possibility that we can/we might/we could menstruate and sully the sacred. But in every other temple I know, a woman makes that choice herself – respecting the sanctity of the sacred space – and does not visit when she is menstruating.
But, and this is the bigger but than the one before, this means that the woman has accepted – or has been coerced by the dynamics of gender balances – to accept the patriarchal view, the oppressive edict that she is unclean during menstruation and is unacceptable, therefore, to the gods and goddesses whose blessings she seeks.
Does that societal opinion align with the woman’s own view? Did women prefer to remain private and secluded, un-assailed by the traditional burdens of domesticity when they were menstruating? Did women feel that the flow of blood that marks the profound reality of their fertility is unclean?
(Indira Chandrashekar, Founder and Principal Editor, Out of Print Magazine)
