VRINDAVAN, INDIA: The devotions of widows— some still in their early 20s—who were cast away from their families and shunned by society after their husbands died. In India’s ritualistic, male dominated Hindu society, widowhood is a little noticed dimension of the discrimination that women face. Among superstitious, families, a widow often are blamed” by her in laws for her husband’s death. Unless she controls property, she is treated shabbily and even ostracized; Vrindavan developed into a Hindu pilgrimage center early in this century and soon became a refuge for cast out widows, who believe that by dying in such a holy town they can break the cycle of birth and rebirth. At the six shelters for widows in Vrindavan, more than 2,000 widows gather each morning to begin prayers that last until nightfall. Dressed uniformly in white cotton saris with their heads covered, they, sit in a courtyard around an altar with an idol of Lord Krishna surrounded by burning incense sticks. Their heads bob up and down to the monotonous drone of “Hare Rama. Hare Krishna.” Each widow is given two rupees (7 ¢) every evening and a cupful of uncooked rice and Lentils, enough for one meal. “We have no limit here. Anybody who comes here and spends the day singing odes is entitled to the bounty,” says Bipin Sharma of the Bhagwan Bhajan Ashram Trust, which runs two homes for widows in Vrindavan. Before they begin their prayers, many women work, easing about 350 rupees ($10) a month cleaning temples. Half that goes to rent a room often shared by as many as three widows. “I am too ill to work, so my 12yearold daughter cams by stitching and sewing,” says Jashoda Rani, 35, Rani fled to her brother’s house after her husband died four years ago, but came to Vrindavan when he, too, abandoned her. Hindus frown on remarriage for women, although there are no social barriers for men. Until modem times, widows were expected to jump on the funeral pyre of their husbands in a tradition known as “sati”’ the practice was outlawed decades ago, but the last known case was as recent as 1987. Most women in Vrindavan have little to look forward to, it is the dead end of their lives, and for some it came early. “I was married off when I was 5 years old. My husband, whom I never saw, was 13 and he died one month after the wedding,” Says Gita Devi, 77, who lives at the shelter.

Article extracted from this publication >>  August 28, 1996