Years ago, they were forced to clad in white. Their beautiful long hair was tonsured, their ornaments ripped off, and their freedom restricted. They weren’t allowed to be part of anything festive; even, temples and religious places were out of bounds. In short, they were ostracised and their very existence questioned — all because their husbands had died.
The widows have endured this injustice for long. Not anymore. For a new movement is born, which will give them a new lease of life, at least to those widows residing in Mangalore, for starters.
At Mangalore’s Dasara celebrations on Monday, over 2,300 widows broke all norms. They clad themselves in beautiful silk sarees, decked their hair with jasmine flowers, applied sindoor on their forehead, and offered aaratis to Lord Gokarnanatha.
“It is a social movement like none other. We are encouraging widows to be a part of the community. We expected only 1,500 women to turn up, but over 2,300 women were present, which shows to prove that there are many who want to break the social shackles,” said former Rajya Sabha member, B Janardhana Poojary, who is the brains behind this movement.
“Due to influences from Vedic cultures, we have treated our elderly women like social outcasts. For centuries, we have robbed them of their rights to live a normal life. This also includes dressing up in a presentable manner. The grief of losing her husband will always be felt in her heart. But this does not mean she should live like a hermit. This movement will have a lot of opposition, but I don’t care. This movement is about social empowerment of the elderly single women,” emphasised Poojary.
On the occasion, a social empowerment kit was distributed to widows. The kit contained a zari saree, glass bangles, jasmine flowers, and two small packets of turmeric and kumkum. “I’ll seek help from my legislator friends in Parliament to banish the word ‘widow’ from social welfare schemes and replace it with socially honourable women,” he said.
KP Nanjundi, a gold baron from Bangalore, is an ardent supporter of this movement. “Soon, my people will conduct a study to find out if this movement could be taken up in Bangalore and Mysore too. I am sure there will be lakhs of people who will accept this revolution.”
