Vindravan, “City of Widows”

Some 15 km from New Delhi, you can find the sacred city of Vrindavan. It is sacred because it is said to be the city Krishna’s infancy. Today it’s known as the “City of Widows.” There are thousands of temples dedicated to Krishna there, where the widows sing in exchange for a few rupees a day. The exchange rate for one rupee is 0.01457 euro.

Although current legislation in India unequivocally prohibits discrimination, in many parts of India these regulations are not obeyed as they contradict ancestral customs. You have to understand that there are over a billion habitants (approx.) and 70% live in rural areas.

A shocking piece of data uncovered particularly egregious non-compliance with legislation; as recent as 1999, a woman was burned alive on her husbands funeral pyre (data provided by UNIFEM- United Nations Development Fund for Women).

According to Hindu culture, widows are bad luck and a curse. According to the Code of Manu, one of the most sacred and most ancient scriptures, “A widow should never be independent. A widow should suffer a lot until she dies. She should be pure in body, mind, and spirit.”

In the patriarchic Hindu culture, according to tradition, which is rigidly followed in a large part of India, a widow does not exist. She dresses herself in white for the rest of her life, wrapped in a piece of unsown cloth with her head shaved and ash smeared across her face. They strip them of all their possessions and social status and from then on they eat only one meal a day. She will become a relic rejected by even her own family. It’s her fault for outliving her husband.

In India, there are more that 30 million widows, with an elevated percentage being youths which results from the custom of older men marrying children. The facts are horrifying: about 8% of Indian minors between 10 and 14 years old are married. This percentage is magnified by those between 15 and 19 years old who account for 50 % of all the widows in India.

They go to this sacred city when they are widowed (there are more than 20,000) and their families abandon them to their fate. At least in this city, in extremely impoverished conditions, they can sing in the ashram for alms.

The Indian government offers an annual amount to each widow, around 1500 rupees, but 95% of them do not apply as many are illiterate or do not know their rights. Furthermore the widows have rights to their husband’s property, but even those who know their rights dare not claim because the tradition is very strong and uncompromising.

HOPE FOR CHANGE

Without a man at her side an Indian women do have any respect or statues in the traditional patriarchal society.

They are culturally ostracized, socially marginalized, economically unviable, and traumatized by their personal loss. They are twice discriminated: as women and as widows.

This situation has been the same for the last 2000 years even though it was abolished a long time ago. Already, change has begun; Governments and human societies are fighting on a unified front. Keep hope alive.