Grant Work: Where Women Rule / Widows of Varanasi: Women_015

Meena Devi, 78, a widow, begins to pray at Rak Kuti ashram in Varanasi, India on January 07, 2019. Meena is originally from Nepal, and has lived in the ashram for the past 25 years. Before that, she lived in the same building as Sita Devi, 52, and her mother-in-law, Goma Devi, 96, who now also occupy this ashram. Meena is a child widow. {quote}Maybe I was cursed and I would have been forbidden to attend any functions because my husband died at a young age,{quote} she says. So with the help of relatives she moved here to live among other widows. She didn't want to marry again after her husband's death.

Meena Devi, 78, a widow, begins to pray at Rak Kuti ashram in Varanasi, India on January 07, 2019. Meena is originally from Nepal, and has lived in the ashram for the past 25 years. Before that, she lived in the same building as Sita Devi, 52, and her mother-in-law, Goma Devi, 96, who now also occupy this ashram.  

Meena is a child widow. "Maybe I was cursed and I would have been forbidden to attend any functions because my husband died at a young age," she says. So with the help of relatives she moved here to live among other widows. She didn't want to marry again after her husband's death.