Abstract

Widowhood is a major concern and cause of deplorable conditions of women. It is considered as one of the major concerns of womanhood whereby women are made to suffer psychologically, mentally, socially, culturally, and even physically. Widows throughout the world face discrimination in one form or the other. In Indian society too, widows are considered as nothing but burden on both family as well as society. Though the concerns of widows have time and again come to prominence yet their deplorable plight is not much improved which has become the motivation behind the present research. Widowhood is a state of helplessness whereby a woman is treated as an ‘outcast’ and ‘untouchable’ like Dalits even if she belongs to a rich upper-class society as soon as she loses the ‘privilege’ of having a husband. Patriarchy has moulded its culture and traditions in such a way that women are rendered as ‘objects’ meant for the use of men. Indira Goswami through her works widely explores the plight of Indian widows who meet various types of injustices in patriarchal society including ostracism from the society. Further, the paper explored how widows are juxtaposed with untouchables so as to make their plight known to the world

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