Prejudices That Led to Witch- Hunts Still Affect Women Today, Says Historian

[appalachiablue]

15. NYT article on widows abandoned by their families in India. Also Al Jazeera:

- NOTE: *TV Program, 'Lucy Worsley Investigates: The Witch-Hunts' on BBC Two, Tues., 24 May, 9pm. (The Guardian).



.. NYT. The widows’ conditions became so dire that India’s Supreme Court took notice of their plight in 2012, ruling that the government must provide them food, medical care and a sanitary place to live. Since then, a number of govt. projects have been introduced, including building Krishna Kutir- Krishna’s House, which cost $8M and opened last August.
Many of the 129 widows living there arrived alone, by train, from villages hundreds of miles away, with dirty, torn clothing, and some came with serious injuries.

At the ashram’s inauguration, Maneka Gandhi, India’s minister for women at the time, said there was still far to go in improving widows’ treatment, but that she hoped Krishna Kutir’s model could be replicated elsewhere in India. “We want all women to feel safe,” she said. Vinita Verma, a social worker from Sulabh Internatl., an organization that works with widows, said she had seen a slow erosion of the conditioning that taught the women — who number at least 3,000 in Vrindavan — to view themselves as unworthy of love. Widows who once refused to wear color are opting for garments dyed blue, burnt orange & pink. “They used to think only in white, nothing else,”

Kali Dasi, a frail woman around 75, said that last year, she tried to reconcile with her family in West Bengal, leaving Vrindavan to journey to her village. When she got there, relatives drained her life savings, about $230. Someone bought her a train ticket back to Vrindavan after seeing her begging on the street. “I want to go again,” Ms. Dasi said...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/27/world/asia/india-women-widows.html
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'My children abandoned me after the death of my husband,' 67-yr-old Subudra Dasi said. 'I walked, hitched rides from truck drivers, slept on roads, & finally reached Vrindavan. These widows are my family, & here I lead a life of dignity.'
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- 'Widows in India: My children threw me out of the house,' Aljazeera, March 7, 2016. - Many communities in India still shun widows and they are abandoned by their families due to superstition. -

Vrindavan, India – Self-immolation, sati, on a husband’s pyre may have been banned in India, but life for many widows in India is still disheartening as they are shunned by their communities and abandoned by their families. “I used to wash dishes and clothes in people’s house to earn money, but the moment they heard that I am a widow, I was thrown out without any notice,” said 85-year-old Manu Ghosh, living in Vrindavan, a city in the No. Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Vrindavan is home to more than 20,000 widows, and over the years, many shelters for widows run by the government, private enterprises and NGOs have mushroomed in the city. The city, which is considered holy by Hindus, has become known as the ‘City of Widows’. “I had to sleep on the street as even my family abandoned me after my husband’s death. I was married off to him when I was 11 years old and he was 40. My daughter died of malnutrition as I could not give her food since nobody wanted to help a widow. After her death, I decided to come to Vrindavan. A woman should die before her husband’s death so that she doesn’t have to live through hell like this,” Gosh says.

The women often live in acute poverty and are ostracised by society due to various superstitions – even the shadow of a widow can wreak havoc and bring bad luck, people believe. Lack of education and any source of income forces them to beg on streets and many turn to prostitution for survival. “My children threw me out of the house after my husband died,” says Manuka Dasi. “I try to earn money by singing devotional songs in temple and manage to get one meal for the day. I am just waiting to die so that I can be out of this life of misery.” 'My children abandoned me after the death of my husband,' 67-year-old Subudra Dasi said. 'I walked, hitched rides from truck drivers, slept on roads, and finally reached Vrindavan. These widows are my family, and here I lead a life of dignity.'

Maya Rani, 80, says: 'I have no one in this world. I am all alone. Being a widow is the biggest curse for a woman. Throughout my life, I have longed for respect and some dignity.' Forced to leave their homes, these widows find solace in each other's company. They share rooms in the shelter and try to live like a family. The shelters are cramped with dingy rooms and become these women's homes for life. Rada Dasi, 82, said, 'It's a lifelong sentence of humiliation and struggle. I have been in this temple for more than 60 years, and now I don't remember anything about my home-town. I wait for death every day so that I get some relief.' 'I went to my parent's house after I was widowed, but even my parents had turned into monsters,'...
https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2016/3/7/widows-in-india-my-children-threw-me-out-of-the-house