The Elapsed Widows: A Case of City of Moksha, Varanasi Singh Suman Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Faculty of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India. E-mail: sumansingh.bhu@gmail.com Online published on 19 January, 2017. Abstract Varanasi, also known as the city of moksha (the final release from reincarnation) or salvation, is also a city of many widows. It is believed that Raja Harsichandra, who was sold to a chandala (one who performs the works connected to a corpse in the cremation ground), the untouchable keeper of Varanasi’s sacred flame, and his wife, the queen worked as a maid just to keep their vows. So, at the very onset the author wants to emphasize that intentions are not to malign the holy city rather to keep it as the city keeps all those who have been rejected by family and society, and in this sense, even the widows. One of Hinduism’s seven holy cities, Varanasi is a cultural hub of northern India and harbours a darker secret, that, as mentioned above, it is a home to widowed women, a marginalised and forgotten population of which the majority live in poverty. Abandoned in the city and shunned by society, many seek refuge in the different ashrams for widows. When widows are thrown out of their households; they come to Varanasi because it is a holy city. Being the city of the Hindu deity, Lord Shiva there is a perception that if they die in this city, they will reach heaven straight away. The present paper tends to assess and analyze the plight of the widows and highlight the socioeconomic factors for their quandary. Top Keywords Widows, Traditions, Semi-structured interviews and Varanasi. Top |