The Menstrual Hut: Part I

In Hinduism, the Veda is endorsed as a supreme literature as a result many researchers intend to connect many cultures and taboos to have their roots in the Vedas. 

Rig Veda mentions Indra killing a monster Vritas and other literature such as Garud Puran links with the story of Rig Veda and later used this story to build menstrual taboos. Due to such a tendency, some scholars have claimed that the menstrual taboo has roots in the Vedic era, which contributes to making the menstrual topic even more confusing.  

Veda rather mentions that Agnihotri yagna is performed in a daily basis by both men and women- this also indicates that if they have to perform daily worshipping they can’t stop due to menstruation. 

It should also be considered that in some sects of Hinduism that emphasize Tantricism, they take menstrual blood as magical and divine. 

A brief introduction to menstruation in Hinduism simply gets complicated and the menstrual tradition in Nepal is simply taken as an extreme. 

These traditions of seclusion huts are also prevalent in India while the traditions in Nepal have received greater international attention. 

There are various problems linked to menstrual hut also known as Chhau shed and the process is known as Chhaupadi.  By 2019, 15 girls died in Chhau sheds in the last 13 years in Achham and Dailekh. 

The Chhaupadi was criminalized with a three-month jail sentence or Rs.3,000 fine or both for forcing any woman to follow the custom in 2017 but no complaints have been registered from Dailekh and Accham. 

The research found that 77% of girls practiced chhaupadi in Dailekh (72% in Achham), and 60% knew Chhaupadi was illegal but that made no difference. The girls suffer from fear and anxiety and wish they were born as boys. They are afraid of getting raped and killed while staying outside. 

In 2020, 241 chhau sheds were demolished in different parts of Dailekh. In 2020, Chief District Officer Gokarna Prasad Upadhaya of Achham started to demolish Chau sheds, but the campaign was halted by coronavirus. After the team demolishes the sheds- the locals reconstruct it. Police started to demolish it after women started to die in Chau sheds. 

 

There are detailed stories on how menstrual huts are prevalent in society and how the donor agencies have been trying to discourage it. Stories that can trigger the creative spirit to plan and implement a film in western Nepal.