Clad in white sarees, widows from ashrams in Vrindavan played Holi Monday at the Gopinath temple here, defying a "custom" that forbids them from celebrating the festival of colours.
"Widows of Chaitanya Vihar Ashram, Sharda Ashram and various shelter homes in Vrindavan participated in the Holi of flowers and Gulal," said social reformer and founder of Sulabh International, Bindeshwar Pathak.
Owing to inclement weather, this year rose and other flower petals with herbal gulal were used during Holi celebrations in the land of Radha Rani, he said.
According to a practice which was prevalent in West Bengal, widows were not only considered virtually untouchable, but also deprived of participation in any festival, said Pathak, who supervised the event.
Such programmes are organised to bring these widows into the mainstream of society and efforts are made to make them self-reliant by training them to prepare herbal gulal, 'agarbattis' (incense sticks), candles and attire of Thakur Ji, officials of the organisation said.
Eighty-year-old widow Monu Gosh was elated to celebrate Holi at the temple. Chabi Dasi (65) and Ratania Maa were so thrilled and smeared gulal on each other and tossed rose petals on fellow widows.
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International tourists were among hundreds of people who witnessed this unique celebration at the historic temple.
It was our seventh attempt to replace gloom with joy in the life of widows, the officials said, adding that the organisation is planning to organise more such events.
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