What is Theetu

Theetu in simple terms is unclean (or at certain times unholy). It can be due to multiple factors - child birth, death of a family member or menstrual cycle. All of these have certain reasons on why they are termed as unclean or unholy. For any of the unclean or unholy classification, the number of days to observe it varies and there are certain rituals followed for each of them. There are certain rituals done after the unholy days gets over. I don't want to get into the why part of these in this post as I wanted to explain each of them separately.

Some of the theetu will have the individual not to have physical contact with anyone and some has restrictions on not to have physical contact with anyone that is not a family member. During theetu, the individual cannot go temple or religious functions happening in public places. Number of day of this observation varies depending on the reason. It has been very well defined by our ancestors where number of days will change if the birth is for a close relative or distant relative, perosn is married or unmarried, if its boy or girl. Since it was always joint family with all siblings living together earlier, the close relatives will be staying in the same house and that is the reason for defining number of days for each circle of relatives. Traditionally, Hindu women keep their hair braided, combed but those who have theetu, can leave their hair free, unbraided (free hair).

Child Birth
Child birth is typically applicable to mother, father, parents and close relatives. During this time they should not enter prayer room or temple, if possible not into kitchen too.

Why/Reasons:
*Mom is really really weak after the delivery and will not be in a situation to do anything, need rest and have to take care of the new born.

* New born baby will have to build the immune system and any small thing could infect the baby. Its safe for the baby to be with the mommy. Breast milk will help baby to strengthen its immune system.

Now:
*New born baby and the mom’s body are same always and there are no different from the olden days. They need rest and bonding.

*Even though there are sanitizers, hygiene environment and others, new born babies are susceptible to infection and its better they build immune system before getting into public.

* Earlier with the joint family the close relatives of the mom will have more observable days than the dad. This is because the baby delivery will be handled in mom’s place. With the current age, if its not a joint family and if the relatives are not close by, the observation of days need not be serious.

Menstrual Cycle
During her menstrual cycle, the girl must not have physical contact with anyone and not enter into kitchen, prayer room, or to temple.

Why/Reasons:
* The reason for observing this is to give some rest to the women. During this state, the women would have lost lot of blood, energy and will be really very weak.

* During this period/state, the risk of infection is high. Quarantine during this period will reduce the infection risk for the women.

Now:
* In olden days the women would use cloth instead of sanitary napkins and was not in a hygienic environment. Now, there is better hygienic environment and need not really be isolated.

* Isolation is one thing but with the loss of energy, they need rest. Its better that they have the sake of this to get some rest.

Death
During a family member death, the family and close relatives must not have physical contact with anyone and not enter the kitchen, prayer room, temple. Until the funeral is done, they don't cook food at the house.

Why/Reasons:
*After death the body will start decomposing and the environment will not be clean. This will spread infection in the environment.

Now:
*The process of decomposition of human body is hard to be controlled and the environment is not going to be clean. Family members observing the days should be serious.

*If non family member or anyone visit their house, they should continue the observation of bathing before entering into his own house. That will help in sanitizing his environment.

*With the current age, if the relatives are not close by, the observation of days need not be serious. This is because there are no way the person gets into the unhygienic environment.


There are several more reasons but these basic ones explain that the observation of days were meant for the hygiene and safety. It was not created just for the name sake. We could see that if these were not observed there might have been few more diseases, more ill people around the world. These are not followed just in India and there are several other parts of the world where they follow similar observations.