28th September — 4th October
After the interviews with the non-menstruators, I was disturbed to know how little they knew about menstruation. I decided I wanted to do something in the field of education. My initial idea was to develop an educational kit that allows teachers to teach menstruation to menstruators and non-menstruators alike without feeling shame.
This could be done through the medium of cultural experiences.
For knowing more about menstruation in mythology, I spoke to Charuhas Kolhatkar — a PhD in Indology. I learned from him how little was written about menstruation in mythology.
Credits- British Museum
Storytelling
As stories like Mahabharat and Ramayan are really ingrained in Hindu culture, I thought storytelling might be an interesting way to teach in an educational medium.
The story of the origin of menstruation was one of the contributions to the belief that menstrual blood was impure. I decided to retell the origin of menstruation. Through my artifact analysis, I had found a very interesting deity which was the goddess of the desire (vulva) — Kamakhya devi.
While mythological stories are being made new, they grow to represent both the worlds they were set in and today. They are good ways of bridging the gap between tradition and modern views.
I decided to get inspired by one of the stories of Kunti and Durvasa from the tale of ‘Mahabharat’. I tweaked the story to include the origin of menstruation.
Read it here -
“Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Kunti. She lived in the house of her adopted father, Kuntibhoja. Durvasa visited Kuntibhoja one day and sought his hospitality.
The king entrusted the sage to his daughter’s care and tasked Kunti with the responsibility of entertaining the sage and meeting all his needs during his stay with them. Kunti patiently put up with Durvasa’s temper and his unreasonable requests (such as demanding food at odd hours of the night) and served the sage with great dedication. Eventually, the sage was gratified.
This led sage durvasa to grant Kunti a favor. He taught her the mantra’s of Kamakhya devi, Goddess of the womb/ vulva, which in turn would allow kunti to bear strong children.
Both of them sang
“He maate he janani,
Apar daivi tuchi yoni.
He paropkari, manovikari,
Tuch tari srushti saari.
Kar pradan aisi shakti,
Sada wato tochi bhakti.
Maj poti ghei janm,
Kamakhyadevi ho Prasanna”
(Oh mother oh nurturer
Your vagina is divine
You are kind, you make us feel
You are the guardian of nature
Please grant me that power
For which everyone will worship you
Give me the blessing of birth
Oh Kamakhadevi, I beckon you)
As soon as sage durvasa left, Kunti decided to test the mantra and Kamakhya appeared before her. She told Kunti that she would bleed every month, but her offsprings would be the strongest in the world.
Kunti then invoked Surya dev, and he bore her a son, Karna.
Later in life, Kunti gave birth to Yudhisthir, Arjun and Bhim, three of the five pandavas.”
I would now think of transmedia storytelling and how to evolve this story into a design outcome.
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