Unravelling the history of menstruating women not entering temples

Women's menstruation is governed by several regulations, converting a natural biological event into one fraught with constraints and humiliation. But when did these rules become about impurity or sin in history? Were these norms part of a formidable system of human knowledge, or were they the repressive norms we know today? We investigate why a menstruating female was told not to visit a temple and question our perspective from oppression to unity and rationality founded in our roots.

Leaflets from Susruta-Samhita or Sahottara-Tantra, 12th-13th century from Nepal. Image credits: Wikimedia Commons

Similarly, when a menstruating woman goes to a temple that raises energy to the higher chakras (from the heart upward) it causes the naturally downward flowing apana vayu to be pulled upward creating resistance. When the currents move in one direction, it comes into a state of resistance if there is a force pulling it from the opposite direction. For the top three channels to be balanced, the lower three must be cleared, and vice versa. The HPO axis is a very important and regulated system in the body for a woman’s menstrual cycles. The ovaries convert testosterone released via pituitary gland into estrogen, which leads the adrenal glands and pituitary gland to produce other menstrual cycle hormones and to stop ovulation by decreasing testosterone production. The feedback loop is disrupted if the pituitary gland (connected to the forehead chakra) is obstructed. It leads to PCOS, excessive testosterone levels, decreased ovarian function, hypogonadism, and endocrine issues.

Similarly with any material like prasadam or kumkum from temples, it was advised not to be used because these materials are seen as part of the same chaitanya guiding the temple, and can have the same effect as visiting the temple. Every aspect of the temple is regulated by certain norms in order to maintain that same energy, thus in order to be in alignment with the state of the woman's body during menstruation they were advised not to visit certain temples, and avoid risk of complications. The connotation picked up over time was that the blood of the woman is impure, or that some function of the menstruation is impure.

In the base chakra, muladhara and swadhisthana, the apana vayu, down and outward flow of energy; influences digestion, elimination, reproduction, and menstruation in women. During a woman's menstrual cycle, apana vayu is activated to release blood and the egg.

Going to temples that have an effect on the lower chakras overcharges the apana vayu, causing profuse bleeding and other issues associated with an overstimulated element.

The Arunachaleswara Temple at Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu for example, is a Manipooragam Stalam (placed on the navel, according to tantric chakras the third primary chakra) and is specifically associated with the element of agni (fire). The digestive system connects the manipura chakra to the physical body. Shiva is represented in this temple as the agni lingam.

Stories can never be taken at face value, a child does not originally recognize the difference between a story, their imagination and reality itself but as we mature, we come to recognize stories for the meaning and values they contain. Knowledge has had to be simplified through the yugas (generation, period of time, or age), by the dwapara yuga (second in the four yugas, lasted 864,000 years), the original srutis (‘that which is heard’, or the insights that came to the rishis, through which the vedas were composed) were simplified into stories. Because stories are subject to interpretation, the correct interpretation depends on the lens through which they are interpreted, as well as the person's available background knowledge and context (agama). The bulk of the populace now believes that menstrual processes are tainted, and every question is answered through this lens. We must begin to question our culture such that it empowers us and roots us in strong scientific exploration from many thousand years ago; one that needs cross-verification and made applicable to today's society.

The Agama shastras are a large collection of tantric literature that provides descriptions of how a temple should be built. The temple is the manifestation and expansion of the god who resides in Brahmasthana in the centre. The deities are consecrated with prana pratishtha (rituals to invite a resident deity) and strict rules are set in place to ensure that the chaitanya is maintained (consciousness, or energy). So, while various temples may have the same deity, their chaitanya will be radically distinct, implying that their ordinances will vary as well. They're designed to reflect a person's subtle energy bodies or chakra systems.

There are nadis or junctions throughout our body and being through which energy in all forms flows in a unified orchestration to manifest all of reality. In the sthula sharira (physical body), this can be understood as the various neural pathways, as well as the nervous system and blood vessels. This permeates as the sukshma sharira (subtle body) into the nadis, minor and major chakras (or energy centres), ultimately interconnected to all of reality; or the ‘indira's web’s

4th-5th century stone sculpture at Kamakhya Devi Temple in Guwahati, Assam built in honor of Shakti. Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons

Arunachalesvara Temple, the manipooragam stalam in Tamil Nadu. Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons

The seven Chakras. Source: Ugaoo

Menstruation is a very sensitising process; the woman's body naturally becomes more sensitive to the subtler (and more experienced) aspects of life as the body releases and purifies itself. Just because something requires purification does not make it inherently impure, in fact, the possibility for purity is a better indicator of its genuine purity. It only makes reasonable sense that the laws governing one physical system be better tailored to that system rather than applying the same rules to all bodies carelessly. In doing so, we acknowledge that each gender's physical systems are different and unique, part of nature.

One narrative for why women menstruate is that they have taken on Indra's guilt. Menstruation has also been associated with the killing of the possibility of life. We can begin to change the layers of maya and transform the way we relate to the universe if we shift our perspective to a more holistic and non-ego view, from one of scarcity to one of abundance, and see menstruation as the unlimited possibility of birth. This is a narrative that we are free to interpret, and our investigation of the meanings should be based on fact and thorough examination.