Menstruation scares men ... Hindu customs to isolate women until they are purified

Mary Aaron

Many ancient cultures include habits that seem unfamiliar, but the menstruation of women remains one of the most woven things about myths and strange customs, which may be coercive and claim the lives of women, which was what happened in Nepal when a woman died after her son-in-law insisted on her being locked in the menstruation hut.

Imprisonment of women in the menstrual cottage is a Nepalese custom from ancient times, and the Nepal Parliament passed a law to curb these practices against women in 2017, but it appears that it was not sufficient to deter the Hindu men who see the "shobadi" (complete rituals for the isolation of women during the menstrual period) A belief that must be implemented regardless of the outcome, as it begins with isolation and ends with specific rituals to purify women before integrating them back into society.

Shobadi kills women
On December 7, the police arrested Chahartra Root, 25, in Nepal, who is accused of forcing his brother's wife to reside in what is known as the menstruation hut, and although it is not clear whether the charges against him are official or not, it is the first A man is arrested because of Shobadi, after finding Barbati Buda Root. He died due to suffocation from smoke, as it appears from the initial examination of the accident site that she set fire to some straw to keep warm in a secluded cottage on the cold of the second of December.

Nepalese law offers Chahterra Root to a penalty of up to three months in prison and a fine of up to three thousand Nepalese rupees ($ 26), or both, if the charge is proven to be true.

Although the financial fine appears small, it is compared to the average daily income per person in rural Nepal, which does not exceed $ 1.25, along with the registration of many rural people in Nepal under the poverty line, which makes the punishment not easy, in a society that relies more About 80% of it is on agriculture, according to the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development.

The Nepal Parliament passed a law protecting women from the tradition of "Shobadi" in 2017, after a young woman (18 years of age) died in the menstruation hut because of a snake bite, and before that two women were found dead in the hut, which prompted parliamentarians and legal professionals in the country to put an end to the practice of "Shobadi" ".

Cleanse the urine of cows
The practices of isolating and banishing women during menstruation are called "shoubadi", which means "menstruation," but it suggests - locally - the woman's impurity when she bleeds monthly, and also includes the postpartum period after childbirth. Outside the house, in small, remote huts that look like basements.

Based on these beliefs, menstruating women are prevented from touching the food that others eat, and by touching men or livestock, especially cows, because they believe that menstruating women, if they come into contact with the cow, will have a curse that will prevent them from generating milk later.

Women are also forbidden to enter public toilets used by others, and this requires them to walk long distances to spend their needs in the wilds away from people's eyes, in addition to staying in the isolated menstrual hut that does not contain any furniture for sleeping, sitting, or even a toilet.

After the bleeding is over, the women bathe in a small river away from the villages, and they purify themselves using the urine of the cows so that they can later merge again into their village.

Richie Panchami's celebration
The practice of "Chopadi" has declined in the past few years, and the enactment of the relevant law has not limited the belief of some Nepalese men to this day.

Despite the laws promulgated by Parliament, many men, even if they do not punish women with isolation, are afraid of touching menstruating women for fear of the disease that may afflict them, and women are considered according to this belief to be sinful if they come into contact with men. And cattle through fasting and then bathing in the holy waters, according to the Hindu lunar calendar.

The adoption of the law is a punishment for those who compel women to isolate did not protect them from the culture of their families, who still see menstruation as a lethal poison that should be excluded. To shyly reject the lineage of those who reject these religious practices