REPRESENTATION OF WIDOWS THROUGH LITERATURE IN INDIA

Since ancient times, the women in India have been regarded as one of the disadvantaged sections of the society. Indian society has been an instrument of torture for women and they are also human beings is forgotten all the time. The treatment that widows experience at the hands of the family members and friends differs. There have been instances when widows are not treated well by their family members and relatives. The different types of negative treatment that widows experience from their family members and relatives include: misbehaviour, verbal abuse, physical abuse, taunting etc. Widows normally lived in isolation and did not get much involved in social as well as in cultural activities of day-to-day life. But the women who have become widows because of their marriage with old men and are considered as one of the most unfortunate members of the society. Very diminutive has been done for their deliverance. Their better living is a concern for nothing. Leading a lonely life, though being a part of the social system, becomes unavoidable for them. But the deprived voice succeeds to reach to the literary writings. Perhaps the whole social system is dazed from within by their presentation in literature. The widows are seen from numerous perspectives in these days. Depending upon certain circumstances, widows are regarded as inauspicious. Therefor many authors have tried to emphasis on this isolated section of the society.