The restriction on women entering a temple during their menstrual period is a custom as ancient as idol worship. The restriction was in force during ancient and medieval times when only the upper castes were allowed inside temples. And it continues even after the Temple Entry proclamation in the first half of the 20th century. In other words, the ban is not a new generation thing. So to understand why such a custom originated one has to go back in history, and pick up the ways of life in forgotten times. In those days, even the entry into a temple was a ritual of sorts. It was usual for devotees, both men and women, to first have a dip in the temple pond before walking towards the deity.
A woman in period can sully the sacred pond with her menstrual blood, especially because absorbents were unheard of then and if at all they existed were of the most primitive kind. It was important that the pond remained clean because staunch devotees never considered their immersion complete till they touched their lips in the sacred water of the pond cupped in their hands. So it was a prohibition born out of concern for hygiene, not something imposed by the Gods as certain upper caste fools might want us to believe. In olden days the restriction was not limited to temples either. Women passing through their menstrual cycle were also prevented from performing ordinary household chores during this period fearing that their blood might stain vessels, pots and mats. It was just a cloth that the women of yore had for protection, and it was not uncommon to find women moving around in blood-stained clothes.
Women passing through their cycle were also kept cloistered, in separate shacks. A precaution in the name of hygiene, at that point of time, was understandable. A more vicious version of such ancient ostracism is still practised in our society. Don’t we have people among ourselves reluctant to shake hands with people having vitiligo? Aren’t there parents unwilling to let our children study in a school that admits AIDS-affected children? Nonetheless, the modern woman is perfectly in control of her cycles. Now that the hygiene part has been taken care of, and considering that our Gods never ever had a problem with menstrual blood, it would be ridiculous to still keep menstruating women out of temple premises.
Certain interpreters of our ancient texts have even come to the pig-headed conclusion that menstrual cycles prevent women from undergoing a penance. A penance is taken not for the body but to purify the soul. Enlightenment is for the soul, not the body. After all, a human body, be it that of a man or a woman, is just a sack of excreta. Any kind of penance, therefore, does not have any link whatsoever with menstrual cycle. These 'scholars' make it sound as if a penance is like an Aadhar card, something that has to be linked with anything in sight. Menstrual cycles do not weaken the woman either. There are tougher forms of self-denial undertaken by women in the country than the one made for the Sabarimala pilgrimage.
The ‘chaturmasya vrutham’, the four-month penance that begins on Guru Poornima, is a telling example. Women pass through more than two menstrual cycles during this four-month penance but it has not held them back from subjecting themselves to the unbearable rigours of self-abnegation. But there are astrologers who make a killing by declaring that a menstruating woman entering a temple will invite the wrath of the Gods. This is idiocy of the highest order. God can never get angry. Vacillating between extremes - happiness and sadness, love and hatred - are human frailties. God is forever in equilibrium. Bliss is his state of being.
(The author is the founder of Acharya School of Bhagavad Gita and Salagramam Public Charitable Trust)
