This paper will demonstrate how sacred cosmologies provide alternative perspectives on resilience, sustainability, and gender justice.
Paper long abstract
Menstruation, often framed as taboo within patriarchal societies, is simultaneously celebrated as sacred in specific cultural contexts. The Kamakhya temple in Assam, where the goddess is believed to menstruate annually during the Ambubachi Mela, provides a striking counter-narrative to dominant discourses of pollution and exclusion. This paper examines menstruation as both an embodied experience and a symbolic practice, situating it within broader debates on gender, ritual, and ecology. Drawing on textual analysis of ritual narratives, ethnographic insights, and secondary literature, the study highlights how Kamakhya’s cosmology connects menstrual cycles with ecological rhythms of fertility, water, and regeneration. In an era of climate change, these symbolic linkages acquire new urgency: shifting monsoons, ecological degradation, and livelihood disruptions reshape not only material survival but also ritual practices and cultural imaginaries. By linking menstruation and goddess symbolism with ecological cycles, the paper argues that indigenous epistemologies provide alternative frameworks for rethinking resilience, sustainability, and gender justice. This sociological inquiry underscores the importance of integrating embodied experiences and sacred cosmologies into global discourses on ecological crisis and social inclusion.