Violence Against Aged Widows in India A Socio-Psychological Analysis

Women suffer from various handicaps and injustices in Indian society, widowhood being one of them. It is considered as the greatest and saddest change in the life of a woman. Widowhood is both a personal condition and a social status. The transition from wife to widow in Indian culture and tradition is distressing and the life of a widow is made miserable by the norms of patriarchy. She has to find a new support system, new sources of attachment and new social networks, which are often difficult. She faces emotional trauma, familial exploitation and social stigma. Thus, widowhood is both a crisis and a problem. The present article attempts to explain the phenomenon of violence against aged widows through different theoretical perspectives with a focus on the practices meted out to widows in India.