Maharashtra: Village in Kolhapur passes resolution to ban 'widow rituals'

A village in Kolhapur district in Maharashtra has shown the way in the death centenary year of social reformer king Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj by getting all its residents to endorse a ban on funerary practices carried out to make a woman aware she was a widowHerwad village in Shirol tehsil of Kolhapur district on May 4 passed a resolution banning the practice of women breaking bangles wiping off kumkum vermillion from the forehead and removing the mangalsutra of a widow as part of rituals that have been handed down over time said its gram panchayat sarpanch Surgonda PatilHe told PTI that Pramod Zinjade founderpresident of Mahatma Phule Samaj Seva Mandal in Karmala tehsil of Solapur took the initiative and encouraged the gram panchayat to pass a resolution to ban this insulting way to reinforce to a woman that she was now a widowWe feel very proud of this resolution as it has made Herwad a torchbearer for other gram panchayats especially when we are observing the 100th death anniversary of Shahu Maharaj who worked for womens emancipation Patil saidSpeaking to PTI Zinjade said In the first wave of COVD19 one of our associates died due to a heart attack During his last rites I witnessed how his wife was subjected to breaking of bangles removing of mangalsutra and wiping off of kumkum etc It amplified the womans sorrow The scene was heartwrenchingDeciding that such a practice should be stopped Zinjade said he wrote a post on it and approached village leaders and panchayats and was glad when he received good response from several widowsTo set an example from my side I declared on stamp paper stating after my death my wife should not be subjected to this practice Over two dozen men followed suit and supported my declaration It is then that Herwad gram panchayat reached out to me and proposed they would pass a resolution Zinjade saidHe said those supporting the move have decided to spread the word through a multipronged programme that includes preparing a declaration gram panchayats passing resolutions approaching elected representatives to enact a law and also conducting workshops to educate and sensitize peopleAnjali Pailwan 35 a resident of Arjunwad village some 21 kilometres from Herwad who lost her husband in 2020 said she reached out to Zinjade after learning about the initiativeI told him about my painful experience of being a widow and expressed my wish to do something for women like me To start with from Gudi Padva I installed gudi at my house wore all the ornaments and had haldi kumkum ceremony at my house she saidPailwan who is a graduate and works with a womens selfhelp group said she wears ornaments now moves about freely in society and no longer cares about what people may be thinking about a widow making such movesWe have given a memorandum with signatures of widows to state minister Rajendra Yadrawkar seeking a law to ban this practice she addedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever