Vol. 9, Issue 7, Part A (2023)

This research paper aims to shed light on the complex interplay of religion, caste, and gender in the lives of widowed women, with a specific focus on their relationship with water. Water, a vital resource for survival, holds cultural and religious significance in many societies. In certain regions and religious contexts, widowed women face unique challenges and restrictions related to accessing water and participating in water-related rituals. Through an exploration of diverse cultural and socio-religious perspectives, this paper seeks to demystify the relationship between widowed women and water, examining how religious beliefs, caste-based discrimination and gender norms influence their access to and engagement with water resources. The researcher found that water comments on the symbolism of Ganga, how it can purify and can take away life. How the widows accustomed to taking baths in it every morning and evening and how a widow like Kalyani falls into the absurd tradition of purity and took her own life by drowning herself in Ganga. How it is the holy river, a place where all sins are washed away, a site for purification but it is also the passage to the upper caste homes where young women like Kalyani and Chuhiya are prostituted. Apart from that, this movie had to suffer a huge amount of hostility from conservative right-wing organizations. For them, this movie was portraying negative light on their religion and tradition. They organized protests and attacks on cinema which eventually led to the change in location of the shoot. The movie was shot in Sri Lanka. The reason I am mentioning this point is that still after so many years nothing has changed. The idea of following the religion is not wrong but when it denies the essential human rights of an individual is where the matter is. Maybe these practices are not as upfront as it was before but it is still there and the consequences of it are still equally brutal.