Widows of various shelter homes participate in Holi at Vrindavan's Gopinath temple

Clad in white sarees and giving a toss to the orthodox traditions that forbid them from participating in the festival of colours, widows in Vrindavan celebrated Holi at the historic Gopinath temple here on Monday.

“Widows of Chaitanya Vihar Ashram, Sharda Ashram and various shelter homes in Vrindavan participated in the Holi of flowers and Gulal,” said social reformer and founder of Sulabh International, Bindeshwar Pathak.

Owing to inclement weather, this year rose and other flower petals with herbal Gulal were used during Holi celebrations in the land of Radha Rani, he said.

According to an age-old practice, which was prevalent in West Bengal, widows were not only considered virtually untouchable but were deprived of participating in any festival, said Pathak, who supervised the rare feat in Vrindavan.

Such programmes are organised to bring these widows into the mainstream of society and efforts are made to make them self-reliant by training them to prepare herbal Gulal, 'agarbattis' (incense sticks), candles and attire of Thakur Ji, officials of the organisation said.

Eighty-year-old widow Monu Gosh was elated to celebrate Holi at the temple. Chabi Dasi (65) and Ratania Maa were so thrilled and smeared Gulal on each other and tossed rose petals on fellow widows.

International tourists were among hundreds of people who witnessed this unique celebration at the historic temple.

It was our seventh attempt to replace gloom with joy in the life of widows, the officials said, adding that the organisation is planning to organise more such events.