JOIN USThe Happy-To-Bleed campaign has gained momentum as a woman broke the nearly five-century-old tradition and went near the idol of the world-famous Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district and offered prayers sparking off a big debate across India.
In several temples of India, women are neither allowed near the sanctum sanctorum or nor allowed to go to temples while menstruating.
Beyond sexism
This comes close on the campaign by a college girl, Nikita Azad, who launched a social media campaign — #HappyToBleed — who was annoyed by the sexist remarks made by the head of the famous Sabarimala temple in Kerala. “… these days there are machines that can scan bodies and check for weapons.
There will be a day when a machine is invented to scan if it is the “right time” for a woman to enter the temple. When that machine is invented, we will talk about letting women inside…,” Prayar Gopalakrishnan, who recently took charge of Lord Ayyappa temple, had said.
The campaign has gone viral in the last few days.
With regard to the Ahmednagar incident, a woman has been captured on the CCTV of the temple complex, while passing through the security barricade to the chauthara or platform where the idol was installed. However, CCTV footage suggests that there was no attempt to stop her.
The woman’s action has been lauded by various quarters, including women and social organisations. “She should be felicitated for doing what she did,” Congress MLA from Solapur Praniti Shinde said, adding that she would be raising the issue during the winter session of Maharashtra legislature in Nagpur.
However, Sayaram Bankar, one of the trustees of Shri Shanaishwar Devasthan Shani Shingnapur-Newasa, said that they are not holding the girl responsible.
“This is a 400- to 500-year-old tradition, she broke it, but we are not holding her responsible…we respect women, but there are some traditions that need to be respected,” he said, adding that the sentiments of devotees have been hurt because of this.
The temple administration has started an internal probe and has initiated action against the security personnel for the breach.