Is untouchability only caste based?
Well no.
Since last 7 years I am being treated as untouchable because of my body.
Also since last 7 years I am fasting on every Rishi Pancham for a weird historical event.
Once there was a Brahmin named Sumitra. His wife’s name was Jayashri. In general, they
led their life properly, but they failed to observe some of the important canons of healthy living, such as self-restraint and circumspection. Brahmin’s wife Jayashri did not pay heed to the rules prescribed to be followed during menstrual cycles. She continued to cook food on those days and the Brahmin Sumitra used to take the food prepared by her. With the passage of time, the Brahmin’s intellect lost its brilliance and sharpness, and his capabilities also got blunted. Though he was blessed with a human life, he made no attempts to elevate himself to the higher stages of divinity. He frittered away his precious human life by leading an animalistic life and was consequently condemned to lower species after his death.
That Brahmin Sumitra and his wife Jayashri were born as a bullock and a bitch respectively
in the next birth.
Hence as the custom goes, since the year I started menstruating I am observing this fast for forgiveness of my sins (Like cooking, touching things, going in the temple, etc.) I made during those damned 5 days.
They also claim, "Women who do not observe this fast suffer by begetting physically impaired and lustreless children.Now, come to the point. Me. Discrimination. Untouchability. Menstruation.
The topic has always been tabooed, whether you sit among your aunties, or your family members too.
Menstruation brings a lot of change in a women's body and psychology.As she attains womanhood, she is puzzled by a few things. She looks upto her mother for answers.
But her mother, who does not really know better, asks her to shut up or calls her shameless.
The girl or woman who is menstruating is not allowed to enter the kitchen, temples or sometimes even her home. In a lot of villages they are kept in cowshed as they are considered to be impure at that time.
Not just impure but she is also dangerous! Why? Because "Her mind and life force are concentrated in the lower centers and as they are sexually aroused they can make the man approaching them impure"
Not just entering temples, they are forbidden to even take name of God!
Her impurity is taken as the logic for all the inhuman treatments given to her.
A few learned people say such customs were made so that a women gets a rest from household chores during those 5 days when she is weak. Agreed.
Today, a women is supposed to carry out all the household chores but is still termed 'polluted and dirty'
I remember I once sat under a tree in a temple of Shiva in U.P.
I was asked to stand from their immediately. I turned up to see a board where it was written, "Women are prohibited to sit under this tree" Hence, not just a few activities but a women, because of her body isn't even allowed to sit under a tree!
Height of ignorance is when women aren't allowed to touch pickels, plants, vegetables or enter fields because they will pollute these things and they will rot.
Even in Japan.
This is all irrespective of caste and creed and is prevailing in almost entire India and a lot of other countries.
What concerns me more than these feminist thoughts is shameful position of female hygiene.
According to a latest report in a leading daily, only 12 percent of women use sanitary pads. The rest of the 88 percent either cannot afford it or are not aware of it. They rely on home-made rags, old cloth etc.
There is no harm in using old clothes or self-made pads but because these things are supposed to be hushed, women dry these clothes in places where no one can see it.
This damp clothes result in infections leading to removal of uterus in most cases.
I am not impure because I menstruate.
My focus is not on the 'lower centers' when I menstruate.My body and its processes aren't a liability.
No scientific study has proved that I have a negative aura when I menstruate.
I am a woman, I get periods and I have no qualms talking about it.
When are we acting?
