Prejudice against widows in India

1
Prejudice against widows in India
Jennifer Ong Dratz Core D
2
Historical Events of Prejudice against widows in
India

• In previous generations, women were tied to
  their husband's funeral pyres and burned to
  death, a practice called sati that now rarely
  occurs.
• If a woman undergoes Sati, she was worshipped
  as a Goddess, temples were built in her memory
  and she was believed that she would go directly
  to heaven and can be with her husband forever.
• Sati was a voluntary act
• Some committed Sati because the
• life of a widow was so bad that they
• favored death to humiliation and a
• cursed life

Sati
3
People who offered help to widows

• Indian leader Rajaram Mohan Roy, through his
• organization Brahmo Samaj was among the first
  who
  
• fought to eliminate Sati.
• However, it was Dayananda, and Mahatma Gandhi
• who actually stopped the practice.
• The Hindus did not believe in Sati, but did not
• prevent it, and it was not until 1829, when the
  British
  
• obtained control of India that it was made a
  criminal
  
• offence and was prohibited.

Rajaram Mohan Roy
4
Some historical discrimination that still hold
true today

• Widows are forced to
• wear a white or red sari
• shave their head
• Foregoing all decoration and cosmetics
• Eat single meals and certain kinds of food
• like relish, pickle, spices are forbidden
• Never sing or dance
• Avoiding social gatherings (e.g. weddings
• and temple worship)
• Never looking at any man outside the
• family
• Remarry a brother-in-law

A widow who shaved her head and wearing a red sari
5
Some historical discrimination that still hold
true today (Continued.)

• Hindu Succession Act 1969 made women eligible to
  inherit equally with men but widows werent given
  their legal rights.
  
• Widows are sometimes harassed, persecuted,
  beaten, tortured and even killed by their male
  relatives, brothers-in-law or step-sons over
  control of land and property.
• 70 of Indian widows have not managed to
  obtain their inheritance rights under
  the customary law.
  
• However, prejudice against widows in
  India has been getting better, as there
  was only one instance of a Sati reported
  in Rajasthan (late 1980s), and another
  in Madhya Pradesh (in year 2002)
  

A recent case of Sati (in the late 1980s)
6
Some historical discrimination that still hold
true today (Continued.)

• Widows are commonly accused of causing their
  husband's death and are often abused by their
  in-laws.
  
• A widower can remarry as many times as he likes,
  however a widow cannot remarry irrespective of
  her age.
  
• After her husbands death, the widow is the
  property of her in-laws family, and they can
  decide what to give her and how to treat her.
  
• A widow has no freedom to return to the parental
  home
  
• A widow from a higher caste may be subject to
  greater cruelty and abuse by her in-laws than a
  lower caste widow who is freer to work outside
  and to remarry.
• Most widows do not wish to remarry as they fear
  ill treatment and abuse in a new family
  

7
Some historical discrimination that still hold
true today (Continued.)

• Some widows leave their home because they
  are afraid of
  abuse by their in-laws.
  
• They usually escape to Vrindavan, to join
  millions of other widows.
  
• There they are sure to get daily rations of a
  cup of rice
  
• But the rations are only available to widows
  who attend daily prayers to Lord Krishna
  
• At least here they wont starve to death and
  for many widows it has been their home for
  many years.
  

Lord Krishna