Indian Widows in Search of God: A Study of Vrindavan and Varanasi, India

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Ajit Kumar Singh (b. 1944) obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in economics from the University of Lucknow. Professor Singh has taught at the Lucknow University, Lucknow and RML Avadh University, Faizabad. In 1987 he joined the Giri Institute of Development Studies, Lucknow as Professor and was Director of the Institute from 2004 to February 2013. Presently he is National Fellow, Indian Council of Social Science Research.

A reputed economist of the country Professor Singh has been a member of the Taxation and Resource Mobilisation Committee, Goverment of U.P. (1995) and Second State Finance Commission, UP (2001-02) and the Agrarian Relations Committee, Ministry of Rural Development, Goverment of India. He has written extensively on different aspects of planning and development with particular focus on the state of U.P He has also guided a large number of research projects for national and international organizations.

Nomita P. Kumar (b.1965), Assistant Professor, holds MA in economics from Lucknow University and Ph.d. (Economics) from Kanpur University. She was awarded ICSSR Doctoral Fellowship at the Giri Institute of Development Studies from 1989-1993 for her Phd. She started her career as part-time Lecturer in Economics Department, University of Lucknow. She has almost 26 years of research experience and has worked in different research projects at the Institute. She has also worked for Second State Finance Commission as Senior Research Fellow under Govt. of Uttar Pradesh. She was awarded UGC Fellowship for carrying out Post- Doctoral research during 2003-2006. Besides research experience she also has teaching experience at the graduation and post- graduation level.

For many centuries in the past widows have been coming in large number to live in the religious cities of Northern India particularly Vrindavan and Varanasi in search of moksha or salvation. However, they are condemned to live a life full of misery and neglect in hell. During the past two decades a number of studies were conducted on the condition of widows, particularly in Vrindavan and in some cases in Varanasi. Most of these studies had a small sample and did not look at the problem of the widows in a holistic perspective covering their economic conditions and emotional and cultural deprivation. The present study, sponsored by the Ministry of Women and Child Welfare, Government of India is an attempt in this direction. It covered the four main religious centres of the Northern India in undivided Uttar Pradesh, namely, Vrindavan, Mathura, Varanasi and Haridwar. More than 2800 widows living in these places were interviewed in depth about various aspects of their life. The present book is based on the analysis of the responses given by the widows. It provides us with a picture of the life of these widows as told and perceived by them.

Many debts have been incurred in conducting this study. We earnestly acknowledge our deep sense of gratitude to the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, New Delhi for sponsoring the project without which this study would not have been possible. We are extremely thankful to different officials of Social Welfare Department, Government of Uttar Pradesh and Social Welfare officers of the selected districts who fully extended help in conducting the survey. Above all we are thankful to the widows we interviewed who willingly shared details of their life with our research team.

The tedious job of primary data collection was done by a team of dedicated research staff led by Shri Bala Singh Koranga. We are thankful to them for the patience and difficulty with which they collected the primary information.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages