ABSTRACT
R epresentations, discourses and political contestations surrounding the plight o f the upper-caste w idow in In d ia rem ained im plicated w ith in the questions o f religious salvation, fam ily h o n o u r an d com m unity construction th ro u g h ou t the p re-m o d ern period. H ere , m arkers o f w idow hood stood for the visibility o f the contro l exercised over w om en, this itself betokening the h igher social status o f a com m unity in an intensely h ierarch ical caste society. D uring the period o f British im perialism , the status o f widows becam e caught up w ithin acrim onious d isputations betw een colonial officials and m em bers o f the In d ian m ale elites, w here the colonial 'civilising m ission5 utilised the index o f In d ian w om en 's lack o f liberties to legitim ate its own rule. S im ultaneously, b o th the contro l over widows an d the em ergen t a t tem pt to g ran t them legal rights becam e p a r t o f a historical fo rm ation w hereby the rising In d ian elites refo rm ulated the boundaries o f caste and religion, thus re ta in ing an d consolidating social privilege over the subord in ate castes, an d over the o ther religious com m unities (M uslim an d C hris tian). T h ro u g h o u t all this, the vivid voices o f widows them selves rem ained m arginal, an d it has been the task o f fem inist h istoriography to retrieve the expressions, articulations an d pa in o f widows, thereby stam ping this w orld w ith the nam es, u tterances an d strivings o f those w om en w hose experiences a rch across the sky from the past to reach the present.
