Shiv & Shakti

Followers of Shaivism worship Shiv as the Supreme Being. It is said that during menstruation, women should not visit temples or touch God's murtis, because they are considered impure during this period. However, this is not true; menstruation is a normal physiological process of the body just like respiration, blood circulation, defecation and so many others. Menstruation is associated with creation, childbirth, and anything which is associated with creation can never be impure. It is a type of superstition, just like other superstitions created by human beings. It is a gender bias; it creates inequality between men and women.

Shiv is totally impartial. For Him a devotee is a devotee; it doesn't matter whether the devotee is a man or woman, or even a menstruating woman. For this quality, he is called Sureshwaram Bhuteshwaram, Lord of deities and Lord of ghosts. In the Vedas, he is identified as Sarveshwar, Ishwara of everyone. We can learn how to be impartial from the Ishwar.

Any man, or even a deity, can never be complete without a woman. For instance, Shiv is incomplete without Shakti, that is, Parvati; Vishnu is incomplete without Lakshmi and Brahma is incomplete without Saraswati and Gayatri. When deities are incomplete without goddesses, men, too, are incomplete without women. In such a scenario, how can women become impure during menstruation?


Shiv is also known as Ardhanarishwara; it is an androgynous form of Him. Ardhanarishwara is the amalgamation of the two sides, that is, male and female aspects of creation that signify Purush and Prakriti as one entity. The union of these principles is exalted as the root and womb of all creation.