Widows in India given back their holy colors
Print Edition
ARUNA Samaddar threw fistfuls of colored powder into the air. Blue and red and green, the cheerful colors settled on her white sari and all over other women nearby.
In most of India, widows like Samaddar have no place in this joyful celebration of Holi, the Hindu festival of colors. The country’s millions of observant Hindu widows are expected to live out their days in quiet worship, dressed only in white. They are typically barred from all religious festivities because their very presence is considered inauspicious.
So for Samaddar, yesterday’s celebration was a joy long denied.
“I am so happy. I am playing Holi after 12 years. I am happy, very happy,” said Samaddar, who appeared to be in her early 30s. The powder made her white sari and those of the widows around her shimmer in myriad colors.
So deep is the ostracization of widows that they’re often shunned and forced to seek shelter in temples.
The holy city of Vrindavan, in India’s Uttar Pradesh state, is known as the City of Widows because it has given so many women shelter. In recent years, widows have found a bit of color and joy here as well.
Aid group Sulabh International has been organizing regular Holi celebrations in Vrindavan since 2013.
Samaddar and more than 1,000 other widows gathered in the courtyard of one of the city’s oldest temples.
The festival of Holi falls on Thursday this year, but in Vrindavan and many other parts of the country, the playing with colors and water begins a week in advance.
“Their participation in Holi symbolizes a break from tradition, which forbids a widow from wearing a colored sari, among many other things,” said Bindeshwar Pathak, the head of Sulabh International.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
