Devaswom head compares menstruation to death, gets biology lessons from social media

“Where did Prayar Gopalakrishnan learn so much of idiocy from?" asks a user.

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Controversy is not new for Travancore Devaswom President Prayar Gopalakrishnan. especially when it comes to allowing the entry of women of menstruating age at the Sabarimala shrine.

Gopalakrishnan has many a time landed in a soup for his inappropriate comments on menstruation. In the latest gaffe, he drew an analogy between menstruation and death.

In a weekly column titled “Kettathum Kelkendathum” (which roughly translates to “What is heard and what ought to be heard”) in Malayalam newspaper, Mathrubhumi, Prayar Gopalakrishnan wrote, “Women not allowed to enter temples during menstruation is similar to how people don’t visit temples for a few days after there’s been a death in the family. That is the same logic that applies in this case too.”

Gopalakrishnan’s comments did not go unnoticed.

Social media users were more than happy to provide some biology lessons to the Devaswom President.

A Facebook user asks, “Where did Prayar Gopalakrishnan learn so much of idiocy from? Will Prayar or his followers be willing to marry a woman who does not menstruate at all?”

“Will the President now say that women must conduct a feast after periods, just like how a feast is conducted on the 16th day after someone dies?” asks another.

This is not the first time Prayar Gopalakrishnan has invited flak for his inappropriate comments on women and menstruation.

Following the controversy over the ban on entry of women in the shrine, he had in November 2015, said that women of menstruating age will be allowed to enter the temple only after a machine that can certify women’s purity is invented.

A few months after his comments, a group of students who are part of the “Happy to Bleed” campaign moved the Supreme Court asking how a biological process can be used as a tool for discrimination.

The campaign was spearheaded just days after Prayar Gopalakrishnan’s controversial remarks.