From ambiguous power to powerful ambiguity: Menstruation among tantra practitioners in India
sciencesconf.org:ydys2026:669375
Monika Hirmer 1, @
1 : Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg = University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
As the fulcrum around which revolves the (dis)continuation of human existence, menstruation has occupied a central role in the origin and organisation of social life (Knight 1991), in the renewal of the Goddess and her relationship with worshippers (Apffel-Marglin and Jean 2020) and in the everyday experience and discipline of medicalised biological bodies (Wood 2020). While studies concerning menstruation in South Asia abound (Hauser 2012, Kolenda 1984, Das 2008, Kumar 2010), they largely focus on menstruating subjects in relation to mainstream Hindu social contexts.
With this presentation, I wish to shift the focus towards the Hindu margins and illustrate the role that menstruation plays among tantric Śrīvidyā practitioners in the South Indian temple-complex Śaktipur. By and large, practitioners consider menstruation as utterly powerful: indicating, at the same time, life and death, it is connected with, on one side, Tripurasundarī and the full moon and, on the other, Kālī and the new moon. The way in which practitioners relate to menstruation, however, appears to reflect the nature of their Śrīvidyā path: those practitioners, who prefer dakṣiṇāchāra rituals, tend to abide by mainstream purity rules and suspend ritual activity during that time; those who prefer kaulācāra rituals, instead, view menstruation as a potent tool that, rather than hindering rituals, increases their efficacy manifold. After briefly discussing how menstruation is dealt with by practitioners and what the temple's overall shift towards dakṣiṇāchāra rituals has meant for menses, I analyse menstruation in light of other elements that are powerful ritual accelerators. I argue, firstly, that their power to magnify rituals is directly connected to their ambiguity; secondly, that the experience of ambiguity creates favourable conditions to acknowledge one's identity Devī and, thus, partake in cosmic creation.
Subject : : Paper
Comment : This is part of the panel Menstruation in Yoga and Tantra
Topics : Session #19: Menstruation and Yoga and Tantra
Keywords : Tantra ; Srividya ; Goddess ; Menstruation
Supplementary data
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