Thousands of pilgrims annually flock to the Kamakhya temple in Guwahati, Assam, for the Ambubachi Mela, a celebration of the yearly menstrual cycle of the presiding deity, Devi Kamakhya. The four-day festival sees the worship of a yoni-like stone that represents ‘Mother Shakti’, known popularly in this form as the ‘menstruating goddess’. And yet, when Mumbai-based artist Aniket Mitra shared his artwork on social media depicting a sanitary napkin with a red, bleeding lotus on it, surrounded by a chalchitra—an artistic rendition that traditionally backgrounds Durga in certain representations—he was abused and threatened, and the piece was taken down.