There are many customs that are followed in Hindu religion. One such custom is not to allow women to do any religious act when they are having periods. In this article we will discuss in details how this tradition came up and why it is followed. Many women often ask why such a discriminating custom and should we still follow it. It is good to follow traditions but some traditions like these do make us question the basis of religion itself.

Prohibited Acts During Periods: Religion or Dogma?

Not only religious acts but there were a list of things that a woman was not allowed to do in ancient India. Some women were not even allowed to have sex with their husband as they were having periods. In the olden days the women who were having periods were kept in seclusion.

Holy Menstruation Blood

The question is natural why?

Women who were menstruating would smell of blood and that could attract wild animals so these women were kept in a special hut. In the olden days the periods of the woman were influenced by the phases of the moon that is why many women would have periods at the same time and they were kept in a hut called the moon hut.

This is quite a logical explanation on why women having periods were kept in seclusion. This is another reason why this norm was practiced across the world. Today we live in a civilized society so following this tradition is not a necessity.

More Power in Menstruation Days

In the olden days it was believed that women having periods have more power and they can absorb more energy. This is why they would pray and chant during this period and pray for the community as a whole. These women after they came out of the seclusion would acquire more power than before and as a result they would be able to foretell any calamity that could befall on the community.

Women menstruation

The red colour of the menstrual blood was powerful and was used in religious acts. It is believed that the red colour on the forehead of the Hindu women was also an indication of the menstrual blood. The red colour of the blood inspired people to develop red colour as it was used as a lip colour and would make the women look more attractive. The menstrual blood was also used in black magic and to prepare magic potion.

The Other Aspect

It was so believed that women who had periods would be losing energy were fast which is true as a result they could attract more energy towards themselves including the negative ones. This is why they were not allowed to pray as they could attract the negative energies.  Thus this tradition was basically made to protect the women from negative energies and not because they were considered impure.

Some also say that the women during periods are more powerful so if they are called to pray they would drown the prayers done by all others and as a result the prayers of others would suffer. This is a tradition that was followed across countries and cultures.

One more theory that can be believed is that the main job of women was to prepare food and offer prayers thus during periods they were restricted from offering prayers so that they do not feel exhausted during this period and would be more relaxed. Women during periods go through a lot of emotional and physical trauma as a result their blood pressure goes high and they feel irritated. During this time if they are given rest and kept in seclusion they would feel relaxed and calmer. This is another reason why women were kept in seclusion.

These explanations do make us understand why women having periods were treated like this. However, the traditions are not wrong but the way they were communicated to the generations were wrong and we need to work on that aspect so that the young women who do not want to follow the traditions blindly can respect the traditions a little more.

Traditions are made with a lot of thoughts and analysis. However, it is absolutely up to the individuals to decide which the rituals that they would like to follow and which are the rituals that they want to discontinue.