Tulsi was not alone, there were many others like her who have children and grandchildren and yet have to spend their days alone.
JOSHUA BEN JOSEPH
Countless chants and prayers welcomed the rising sun on the banks of the river Ganga. Hundreds of devotees had gathered around to offer their respects to the venerated river in the city of Varanasi. The crisp morning air was chilly yet welcoming. Traversing the narrow lanes of the city it wasn't hard to notice countless women clad in white, holy ash and vermillion smeared on their foreheads. Hands folded in prayer they spent their days in devotion and penance. The holy city housed thousands of such women, the orphaned mothers of Varanasi.
The drab by-lanes of the city housed several ashrams or hermitages which these women called home. Official numbers say that close to 42000 widows reside in such ashrams across Varanasi. These dilapidated structures were secluded and rarely crossed the minds of the policy makers. At the entrance of one such ashram Tulsi Devi was busy arranging the diyas or clay lamps that she had painstakingly crafted. A hobby which she had once picked up to forget her sorrows had now become a source of a meagre income for her sustenance. The octogenarian had been a widow since the age of twenty one. "These walls know me more than anyone else. I have everyone, yet here I am. But what could I do, I am an inauspicious burden to the household." she said. Her feeble eyes becoming an aperture to her tiring spirit. Tulsi was not alone, there were many others like her who have children and grandchildren and yet have to spend their days alone. Orthodox hindu code has always promoted a patriarchal system and reduced women to a second class stature in society. Their lives were rendered meaningless after the deaths of their husbands. They are made to discard the attire of a married woman and don the dreary and unembellished white garment that marks them as widows. Heavily ostracized by their families and society and considered inauspicious, they were considered as insignificant members of society with nothing worthwhile to contribute. Treated with disgust and turned away from any propitious ceremony held in society. They are left to fend for themselves in a wicked and arduous test of fate. Many of them resort to begging in hopes of securing at least one square meal a day. Desperate for survival many stray into prostitution, often falling into the traps of pimps and prostitutes. Many of the older widows earned paltry alms by chanting the holy scriptures in temples. Through all this hardship they always have one prayer in mind, their plea to their maker, “Death with ease, a life without miseries, unshaken devotion in you - give me O Kṛṣṇa!”
For countless centuries people have come to the city of Varanasi for one reason, to die. It is said that the person who dies on the banks of the Ganga would attain Moksha or liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth. Many widows await their ends on the banks of the holy river, hoping for an eternal escape from their despondent lives in an unloving society, while praying for a liberation from the next. But for many this wait has been cruel and unending. " I have no desires left in this life." Tulsi said. "My heart is one with my Lord. All I do is chant his name and await his call. How long do I remain a burden." The regressive norms of the orthodox she grew up in were planted in her long ago, that the roots of the self blame for her current state ran deep.
Tulsi started walking towards the riverbank to sell her wares. As she hobbled down the ancient steps on the banks of the Ganga, one can't help but ponder about the depth of her perils. Her deep desire to be loved and cared for, something a lot of us take for granted. Of the many widows in this city wrecked by an advancing age and a backward society, reduced to dry flesh and bone by hunger and poverty, what remained at times were just countless unheard voices.
"May you stay married for life" A blessing given to a bride on the day of her wedding has turned into a curse for these widows. A phrase which has in fact become an imprecation of sorts when they outlive their husbands. Varanasi, the holiest of the seven sacred cities is considered by many as a gateway to heaven. But for these forgotten mothers it has become the gateway to hell. Regardless of it being a haven or an abyss, it is the only place these widows can call home.
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