BY NITYA SHAH
Goddess = a female deity
In nepali language it means “lakshmi” one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity, beauty, fertility, sovereignty and abundance.
In nepali culture, people worship females as a laxmi. When a little girl is born in a nepali family they say “lakshmi is born in your house”. They refer to her as a woman who seems as beautiful, powerful or amazing as a god.
In the very same context when the same little girl to whom they called lakshmi isn’t little anymore. When suddenly that same little girl gets her period at a very small age they start to bound her with their stigmas, rules, regulations and various myths. The red drops of blood stains her clothes. Her whole world changes forever in that period of time. The temple doors that once were opened wide for her now slammed shut.
The same hands that placed flowers at her cradle whispered, “Go rest by the cattle shed.” She was told not to touch the cooking pot, not to drink from the family water jar, not to sleep in her own bed. “Your blood is impure,” So she moved to a cold corner of the house. They gave her old newspapers instead of clean cloth. She washed herself in secret, hid her shame in silence, and counted the days until she could rejoin the world of color and celebration. Outside, life passed by festivals, worship, laughter echoing in the courtyard. Inside, she lived in whispers and cold nights.
But here’s the secret they never tell:
Kamakhya Devi, Goddess who bleeds every summer, in the Nilachal Hills of Assam, the Kamakhya Temple closes its gates for three days. Because the Goddess enters her time of sacred rest. This is the Ambubachi Festival — a moment when the divine pauses. The Ambubachi Festival, celebrated yearly in the Nilachal Hills of Assam, marks a three-day temporary closure of the Kamakhya Temple, dedicated to the goddess who embodies fertility and femininity. During this period, it is believed that the Goddess enters a sacred rest, symbolizing a divine pause and connection to the natural cycles of life.
Even goddesses bleed. They say Laxmi bestows wealth, Durga destroys evil and yet both are daughters of the same earth. The Ganga flows red every month, Parvati feels pain in her womb, and Kali’s own heart knows the weight of each cycle. If the divine can bear blood and live, why must a girl be punished for it?
The same womb they praise for bringing life becomes a source of fear. The same girl they lifted in their arms is now pushed away because her body does exactly what it was made to do.
Inside her heart, though, nothing has changed. She is still the child born under blessings, still the woman who carries creation in her veins. Real purity is not spotless days or locked doors. It is the courage to face every cycle, every whispered curse, every lonely night.
Let this rumor spread through every courtyard and temple lane:
The goddess bleeds—and every drop of that blood tells a story of strength, not shame.