On Friday, in the shelter homes along river Yamuna in Vrindavan, hundreds of widows set the pace for the festivities, defying social taboos and stigmas, to join the mainstream.
The dark ages when widows were secluded, ostracised and branded as inauspicious, is now a forgotten history.
The laudable initiative of the Sulabh International to organise Hindu festivals in Vrindavan for the widows, has been a trend setter and is now yielding dividends by bridging the social divide, say the locals in Vrindavan.
More than a hundred widows living in various shelter homes gathered at the historic Keshi ghat and lit colourful Diyas to celebrate the festival of light with gusto.
Widows decorated the ghat and lit hundreds of earthen lamps. They chanted Krishna bhajans and danced in presence of other devotees.
Thousands of widows, mostly from West Bengal, live in Vrindavan for decades but they were not allowed to take part in rituals, till Bindeshwari Prasad Pathak, of the social organisation Sulabh International extended them a helping hand, in 2012.<br> <br>”I am happy that our initiative has impacted the society in bigger ways and such bad traditions are being vanished rapidly,” Pathak said.
One of the widows, Gaurvani Dasi said: “Motivated by the series of revolutionary initiatives widows are now happy and enjoying stay in Vrindavan.”
Sulabh today looks after hundreds of widows living in various ashrams in Vrindavan and Varanasi since 2012 adding mirth to the lives of the widows by organising other functions from time to time.
On a routine basis, Sulabh provides them medical facilities and vocational training besides meeting their day-to-day needs so that they do not feel left out during the twilight years .
It may be mentioned here that in the light of Supreme Court’s directives, Sulabh takes care of widows living in various ashrams.
–IANS