Salutation to the Aspirations of Fecundity
As the summer recedes and the elite tradition observes four months of inaction
(Chaturmasya), putting even gods to sleep, the folk stream of various regions gushes
forth to rejuvenate the stakeholders in an agrarian society. It is especially so for the
Dalitbahujans, who herald the new phase of hard work with veneration for the various symbols of fertility. The foremost among them is perhaps the festival of divine menstruation celebrated with particular fervour in Eastern India . Be it the Raja Parba of Orissa or the Ambubachi of Bengal and Assam
Recognising the positive linkage of menstrual phenomenon to fertility, the folk honour the earth for at least three days by not touching it with uncovered feet. They even avoid the lighting of the hearth, living on uncooked food. But with a high degree of Sanskritisation, the taboo attached to menstruation has seeped into this festival as well, bringing out the conflicting attitudes to it. At the more textual level, the left-handed Shakta Agamas express this folk-elite divide best when despite their palpable bias towards Sanskritic tradition, they discuss the offering of the menstrual blood or the Kha-pushpa. It is often mentioned that the best such offerings come from the either the young virgins (whose coming of age heralds new hope of fertility) or females of the Dalitbahujan communities. Explaining the recognition of the latter in the Sanskritic Tantra texts, Prof. NN Bhattacharya points out, “…all women belonging to the so-called lower castes are regarded in the Tantras as naturally initiated.” But as we move to the more patriarchal upper caste milieu, the ideas of taboo (which to some extent can be seen in the concept of avoidance of the earth even in the folk traditions) subsume those of fertility.
The contrasting influence due to the caste factor is conspicuous when we look at such celebrations in two major Shakthi peethams that claim to house the Mahamudra of Sati-the Kamakhya temple in Assam
At Kamakhya, the festival coincides with the general celebrations of Ambubachi around the seventh of Ashadha as per the Bengali/Assamese calendar. As a great seat of Agamic learning and worship, the festival here retains its high regard for its fertility aspect. People avidly wait for the end of the three days of the Goddess’ periods when the temple doors are closed, and once they are re-opened, they rush to worship the divine symbol of fertility with several kinds of offerings. Special offerings are also made to the Kumaris and the blessing of the Goddess comes in the form of red cloth.
At Chengannur, the phenomenon of thripooth or menstruation of the Bhagavathi idol is not confined to once a year but the biggest draw is the one that falls first time in the year as per the Malayalam calendar. Here, with the temple’s allegiance to the Travencore Devaswom Trust and the presence of a Nampoothiri priest, the vestiges of the folk aspect are found more in the role of special ritual experts (including women) in confirming the Goddess’ periods and the role of the washerwoman in the ritual cleansing of the clothes. But most of the rituals relate to the ritual cleansing and restoration of the Sanskritic sanctity of the idol. Yet the fact remains that for the worshippers, the Goddess’ divine prowess emanates from this phenomenon itself. Like most such traditions, the traditional elitist disdain for menstruation as symbol of impurity has once again failed to discourage the people’s faith in its divine occurrence even in a largely Sanskritised cultural milieu.
