In India's patriarchal society, being a woman doesn't provide for an easy life. All kinds of vexations weigh hard on women, even as little girls. The most nourishing food, medical care, fun, and rest are reserved for the men. A little boy is like insurance on the parents' future: Once he gets married, he will stay with them in the family house, bringing in the help of his bride who will take care of them in their elder years.
An even harder agony is to become a widow. According to Hindu sacred texts, a woman has no value without a man at her side, including her father or brother when she is just a little girl, and her husband later. Among some Hindus, a widow is not only often believed to cast bad luck over the whole family, but even to be the true cause of the husband's departure. She is therefore stripped of all her properties and human dignity. She has to live in poverty, treasuring her husband's memory for the rest of her time, as she won't be allowed to marry anymore.
An estimated 40 million widows can be found in today's India, and the highest concentration of them, currently around 20,000, is in the holy city of Vrindavan. Most of them came a long way from Western Bengala and Bangladesh, to show their love to Krishna in the town where the God is believed to be born. In the crowded city's Ashrams they raise their perpetual psalms, the bhajam, in exchange for rice, bread, and a few rupees. Their meager daily earnings are not enough to buy them better food, and barely covers the rent for their small and damp rooms.
Neglected, malnourished and exposed to sexually transmitted diseases, diarrhea and tuberculosis, they sleep in over crowded ashrams, the biggest of them hosting 2,000 widows. The unluckiest of them find no place and are left begging in the streets in front of the 4,000 temples of Vrindavan. Some have small children to take care of; others look after the sick and older ones. Many regret not having died along with their husbands, instead of having to endure such a daily humiliation.
— Massimiliano Clausi
Editor's note: I discovered the work of Massimiliano Clausi while judging the entries for the 2010 Anthropographia Awards for Human Rights and Photography. Massimiliano's project was one of several that made quite an impact on me, so I am very happy to be able to present it here in Lens Culture.
— Jim Casper
FeatureWomen of VrindavanMassimiliano Clausi reports on the harsh lives of 20,000 widows in the holy city of Vrindavan, India.View Images
Feature
Women of Vrindavan
Massimiliano Clausi reports on the harsh lives of 20,000 widows in the holy city of Vrindavan, India.
Women of Vrindavan
Massimiliano Clausi reports on the harsh lives of 20,000 widows in the holy city of Vrindavan, India.
Trending this Week
Teen Tribe
Martine Fougeron documents the delicate, turbulent stages of adolescence through intimate portraits of her own children’s lives.
Announcing the Winners! LensCulture Journeys 2020
Discover 37 international photographers recognized for their unique and timely interpretations of the theme, Journeys.
Creative Leaps
Senior Photo Editor of TIME Magazine, Thea Traff has an empowering message for photographers. Drawing on her work as an editor and photographer, she shares her top tips for making work that gets noticed.
Concrete Flowers
Working her life-size street photographs into lush and layered collages, Vanja Bucan creates artwork where nature and industrialization collide into explosive optical illusions.
Cinematography: From Still to Movie
The award-winning Polish cinematographer talks about the tremendous importance of still photography in creating his movies — especially his film, Ida, shot in luscious black-and-white.
The Americans
This is the photo book that redefined what a photo book could be — personal, poetic, real. First published in 1959, Robert Frank’s masterpiece still holds up — the selection of photos, and their sequence and pacing is fresh, rich, generous, and...
Related
Pur·suit
Naima Green’s card deck rebels against the four standard suits: each of the 54 cards sports a unique portrait celebrating a spectrum of queer women, non-binary and trans people.
With Butterflies and Warriors
Gone are the days when African wildlife roamed freely: but the latest models of community-based conservation offer protection for the animals and perhaps some sustainable economic models for the humans at the same time.
Empire
“A place overexposed to light, with people underexposed in the media…” An up-and-coming documentary storyteller takes us to the deserts of Libya and shows how powerful connections can be made between photographer and subject.
Kodak Girl
A wonderful compilation of early advertisements and some great vintage photographs that helped to launch the age of the snapshot. Edited by John P. Jacobs.
Infinite Tenderness
Drawing on the author’s personal experience of growing up in a religious household in the American South, a series that creates an accepting space for America’s queer youth—while offering a visual diary of youth experience across the USA.
Heavily Loaded
Every Saturday in the port of Palermo, you will find cars piled dangerously high with stuff, junk. These photographs (and interview) explore how humble-seeming vehicles are recreating a tradition that goes back thousands of years.