Guest guest Posted April 4, 2008 Report Share Posted April 4, 2008 Widow humiliated for entering Kali temple Merinews network India 4 April, 2008, Superstition and illiteracy continue to be a curse for the country, especially in backward states. In a shameful incident a widow was made to wear a garland of shoes and to top it, her face was blackened after she defied a ban on her offering prayers at a Kali temple in Dhanbad district in Jharkhand early this week. Kalawati Devi was barred by villagers from entering the temple because she was a widow, reports in the local media said. Victims of superstition and backwardness, the villagers believed that her husband had died due to some fault of hers. Therefore should she enter the temple to pray, it would portend ill for other villagers, especially the married womenfolk. The widow defied the ban imposed on her by the villagers, entered the Kali temple and offered prayers. A resident of Pawapur village in Dhanbad district, she paid a price for her daring. Villagers spied her at the temple and surrounded her. They made her wear a garland strung together with old shoes. Not satisfied they then proceeded to blacken her face and paraded her in the village square. To make matters more unseemly than they were, most of those who humiliated Kalawati were women. When the widow filed a case at the police station against six men and 30 women of the village, incensed villagers staged a demonstration outside the police station on Wednesday demanding that the case be withdrawn forthwith. http://www.merinews.com/catFull.jsp?articleID=131779 More: http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/uncategorized/widow s-face-blackened-for-praying-in-jharkhand- temple_10034407.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 7, 2008 Report Share Posted April 7, 2008 Namaste, Something struck me as interesting (not in a positive manner, though) about this article. The things that interested me were the 'superstitions', so to speak, and the 'cultural symbols,' if I do not sound too crude pointing these things out. In this individual village, is the shoes supposed to mean anything? I have also seen a similar article point out that they made the woman walk naked, humiliated. Does this symbolize anything in terms of this individual village? Finally, I was wondering what this stigma with widows is all about...I seen this vaguely referenced in more than just this article. I am aware, again, that this is just one village and definitely does not represent the norms of all groups and villages in India. However, I have noticed the stigmatization of widows being a common theme in South Asia in more than one particular group. I am curious about all of this to attempt to understand why the woman got humiliated. These are just my thoughts... I feel like a blundering novice, LOL. Jai Ma! Sincerely, Christina ---- msbauju <msbauju wrote: > Widow humiliated for entering Kali temple > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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