Breaking age-old tradition, widows living in ashrams once again celebrated Deepawali on the bank of Yamuna in Vrindavan on Tuesday.
Maintaining social distancing, around a hundred widows living in various shelter homes gathered at the historic KC ghat and lit colorful diyas and celebrated Diwali with Cham. The widows decorated the ghat with traditional rangoli and lit hundreds of earthen lamps. They also chanted Krishna bhajans and danced.
This is the ninth year in a row when widows participated in the festival of light. This programme was organised by Sulabh Hope Foundation under the mentorship of Dr Bindeshwar Pathak.
As per Hindu tradition, widows are not allowed to take part in any such rituals.
Thousands of widows, mostly from West Bengal, live in Vrindavan for decades and they were not allowed to take part in rituals, till social organisation Sulabh extended them a helping hand, said Vinita Verma, vice-president of Sulabh Hope Foundation.
One of the widows, Manu Ghosh, said, "Motivated by the series of revolutionary initiatives, widows are now happy and enjoying stay in Vrindavan."
With the aim to bring a ray of hope and happiness and counter the tradition of widowhood, Dr Pathak, founder of the Sulabh Movement, came up with this unique idea of organising the festival of lights, especially for the widows.
On a routine basis, Sulabh provides these widows medical facilities and vocational training besides meeting their day-to-day needs so that they do not feel left out during the twilight years of their lives, says Vinita Verma.
It may be mentioned here that in the light of Supreme Court 's directives, Sulabh takes care of widows living in various ashrams.