(Part 2/2) “People fear the Devis and the Deutas. And different rules were made. These rules were said to ensure that no one angered the Devis and the Deutas. And everyone followed. There was no science and everything good and bad happened because of the Devis and the Deutas. If anyone died, it was the Yama who came and took him and if a son was born it was Deutas blessing. And so with these rules, menstrual blood was considered impure. And in many houses it still is. No one knew how to ask, “Why is it impure?”. No one came to claim otherwise. Also, no one questions something that has been said to have come from god. No one could destroy and recreate our thoughts and minds. But changes were inevitable. Roads reached the villages and new people came in. Different organizations came and started to question these practices. It started making into the news and people from many countries started to know how women live out of there homes while they are menstruating. In my lifetime, I have seen changes mainly because cities and villages are easily connected these days. If we were still living in isolation, we might have never seen these changes. Women suffer, but I suffer less than my mother has. But I also believe the suffering should end. No women should suffer. 

We used to stay away for 10 days but we collectively agreed that we needed to break this mentality. So we decreased it to 7 days. We were doing it at our own pace, following our own communal realizations. We are doing it in a way that does not anger the Devis and the Deutas. We are doing it in a way that we do not completely abandon our traditions and insult our ancestors. Recently, officials came in from the government and destroyed the huts where women lived during menstruation. And all of this was posted on youtube. Those women who have spare rooms in the house live inside the house now. And many are worried that they have angered the Devis and the Deutas. Also, not everyone has a spare room. They still live outside in makeshift shelters and in animals sheds which are worse than the huts that were destroyed. In doing all of this, I am not sure who is in profit? In doing all of this, has it reduced the suffering of all women in our village? I do not know.”

#BreakingTheSilence with Dignity Without Danger: Menstruation in Nepal