Me so "duh"!!!

For those who believe in Mahaperiyaval:

Dear friends,
Last evening, I was reading "Deivathin Kural" 1st part for some reference. I happened to read the following chapter.
Since the passage is relevant to the discussion here, I scanned it & am posting here, for you all to read.
Please remember, I am just reproducing His words here & they do not in any way, reflect my personal opinion on the matter.
There are 2 PDF files in two consecutive posts.
Love,
Chithra.

 

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For those who believe in Mahaperiyavalcontd):

This is the consecutive page of the above article.
Love,
Chithra.

 

Hai,
this is a topic which many women shy away from discuss openly.It is a good thing that we could discuss it online and clear our misconceptions.
I would like to give some info. My mother was born and brought up in a village and she was very strict in such things. She always used to give us accounts of how she and other women used to live in their time.
Those days, women were made to stay alone in the last room during the days they had the periods. As soon as they went to this room, they have to change their clothes, they had a spare set in that room.
They were not allowed to have bath. That is because they will have to go to the river or pond to have a bath. When one has to bathe in a river during this time, one will be polluting the water, isn't it? There were no bath rooms in the houses only open toilets, which was cleaned by the scavengers manually.
And those days, almost all the cereals etc. were produced at home or bartered with other families. So there was plenty of broken dals etc. These were used to cook for the ladies. And even appalam was prepared separately.
The women had a bath and entered the house on the morning of the 4th day, but did not do any house work. They were kept away from their regular chores till the 5th day. Then, they had an oil bath and were allowed to do their usual work then only. If there was discomfort even after the 5th day, they were not allowed to resume their work.
The temples were big ones and it would be physically uncomfortable for the woman to go there during this time, so that was also not done.
All this seems genuine only, because the practise was complete. And as women did not go out of the house made it easy to stick to this routine.
But later on, people started to do things which was convenient for them. And slowly the woman started to come out of the house and it was only right to change the rules.And now that we do not do much physical work, it seems okay.
But, don't we feel tired and irritated and uncomfortable during this time and want to rest? I feel like that and wish I could take those days off. And with such discomfort, I do not feel up to doing puja or going to temple. God is everywhere and we can pray anytime mentally. And writing the Ramanama is not banned then, we can write that. But chanting slokas and going to temples is something I cannot think of.
I have come across many people who are practising these outdated acharams in a very funny way. Some women go to their maika during this time, even now in places like Chennai. One of my neighbour's in Trivandrum was a very spiritual person, she will never want to miss any festival in the temple. So even on the 4th day, she will have an oil bath (second bath) and then go to the temple. I do not feel it is right.
And one advantage of staying away from cooking etc. was that the menfolk and children learned to manage the home and cook basic food. And it gave the woman a much needed time for herself.
Now with both the man and woman out of the house by 8 in the morning and back home by 10 or later, all these cannot be practised.
So it comes to comfort zone, as Chithra had said. But I personally would not do puja or go to temple.

 

Dear Chitra Madam
Thank you for posting the pages from Periyavaal's book. It is good to know diverse opinions from different quarters, especially from elders. Periyavaal's concern for purity within temples is really touching. Temples are places where, by various mantras, tantras and agama, observed continually for a long period of time, the essence of divinity is harvested and stored as in battery cell. It is a space over which we have no right to thrust our personal views. As a mark of respect towards the many wise people who have established a certain code of conduct for that instituition, we definitely have to abide by those rules.

However, in our personal domain at home, where we have developed a personal relationship with our chosen dieties, we may still choose to show our adoration by methods we are comfortable with, so long as we are not hurting others.

Regards
Manjula

 

genuine doubt ladies dont kill me for asking this
sita was in ashoka vanam ok for somany days
wot did she do she had no clothes to change also
maybe she had some devata saree which never made her feel the need to change but still during the discomfort times wot did she do????
bcz lots was being discussed abt sita i jst thought on these lines

 

May be the Godess(es) never went thru' agony like that. May be they all had immaculate conception.


-L.

 

Dear Chitra - Thanks for posting Periva's voice on this matter. If He was frustrated with the happenings of yesteryears, it is not in my powers to think of what He might feel today.

I believe that all our customs and practices were created with purpose and they started loosing their real significance when they were imposed without educating on the real purpose behind. It is
really saddening to learn about the seclusions in villages which are inhumane, but taking it to the other extreme does not sound very good too. I personaly do not perform pooja or visit temples at that time and my pooja closet remains closed.

I think in the lines of Varloo. I was actually shocked to see disposal instructions in the ladies room in one of the temples in Michigan.

-Gayathri.

 

Dear Chitra,

I read the experts from the Periyaval writings, thanks to you. I did not realise that his words were written in such a simple Tamil. The wise man has given a thought to many problems existing in today's world.
I have been following this thread silently. To bring this concept of 'the unclean' days in a woman's life across to my own daughters needed all my wisdom and common sense. Living in the most taboo free continent of Europe, it was difficult for them to understand. As a matter of fact, I had my own problems to reconcile with this as a young girl. Living in a cosmopolitan city and attending a convent school, I realised that this was not a common practice amongst all Indians and was more pronounced in the South India. I gave a hard time to my mom and at the end, with the help of my grandmother(!!), stopped her from practicing this 'dooram' ritual and never followed it either. Two to three 'headbaths' at the beginning and the ending of this period was faithfully done That's about it.
But this idea is so deeply rooted in our psyche, that I did avoid going to temples. I am sad to this day that my younger daughter could not enter the temple premises in Thirupathi on our very very rare visit to that place. I just could not dare to break the temple's rules. Upon discussing this recently in my Gita class, all the members were taken aback and said that they would have taken their daughter for the darshan. But then, most of them are not S Indians.

L, Kamla

 

My dear Kamla,
I am sending my reply by P M.
Love,
Chithra.

 

The same topic was discussed in another favorite forum of mine. Thought any future visitor to this thread might be interested to lookat those discussions. Link is Menstrual taboos - another subcontinent forums

As per my own personal view I don't feel comfortable attending religious cermonies during those days even if the hostess says that they are not perticular. As many of the posters here said it all boils down to personal choice.