Moksha for Widows
India has established itself as a global power due to a meteoric rise of its economy, modernization and educated workforce. With this, the vices like jealousy, lust for money, traditional beliefs and numerous other evil practices have also crept into society.
Widows are still being ostracized by society and prohibited from remarrying, blamed for their husband’s death or face domestic and societal abuse. Thousands of them flock to Vrindavan, a town in the Mathura district, and Varanasi, a city on the banks of Ganges, in Uttar Pradesh to live a devout’s life and in anticipation of dying in peace. Vrindavan is also famous due to Lord Krishna and his antics. But, of late, it has become famous as the “city of widows.”
A large number of young or old widows, who are uneducated or unemployed, often get a little or no help from extended or immediate family members and are thrown out of their homes. Thus, many of them are left with no choice other than flocking to these two places in North India. Hundreds more join them every year. They live in abject poverty and could be seen begging or singing at temples for earning a meal. Still they are full of hope, have found comfort in the two abodes of gods and in prayers and moksa. One also comes across patiently-waiting hunched widows with walking sticks, whose facial expression and linen veils make them appear statuesque, on the streets. Each one has heart-wrenching stories to share.
Their white dress sometimes becomes a source of discrimination as a few young ones are forced into prostitution. Widows, since ages, are being seen as a financial drain on their families. Even today Indians dislike their presence at weddings. Though sati (the burning of widows on the pyres of their husbands) is banned, newspapers’ reports are replete of such incidents, especially in temples of western India, which have been found glorifying it. The widows aren’t allowed to remarry or wear any jewellery and shave their heads.
This Holi, widows living in Vrindavan town, broke the age-old tradition and sprinkled coloured powder and flower petals on each other to brighten their otherwise colourless lives for four consecutive days. This step was taken to socially assimilate them. Meera Sahbhagini Ashram, a century old government run centre for 300 widows, began to pulsate with life. Only 28 per cent widows are eligible for pensions. But, less than 11 per cent of them actually receive it.
My parting remark is, “How Indians, who are known for showering love on elders, could throw women out just because their husbands have died.”
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