ABSTRACT
In many parts of India, a vidhava – “widow” 1 – is perceived as a danger (Chen, 1998: 19–59). Because she outlives her husband, a widow is not safeguarded and is unsupervised. But India is by no means alone in perceiving widows as society’s “anomalies” (Chen, 2000: 30); in fact, many cultures temporarily separate widows from married women. Ever since approximately the tenth century, parts of Hindu society have permanently excluded widows, especially those of high caste. These widows are forced into “perpetual mourning” (Chen, 2000: 30). Around 10 percent of all women, as well as about 55 percent of all women above the age of 50 and five percent of all women below 35 were widowed in India during the 1990s, and less than one percent of them remarried (Census of India, cited in Chen, 2000: 366, 370). For more than 26 million widows in India, only one lifestyle is available to them: asceticism. The textual sources from ancient India give another picture of widowhood; the practices of levirate, niyoga, and widow remarriage seem to have been common. Asceticism was advised only for widows so inclined before it was rigorously promoted for all.
