Women's Day: Leading a widow life for longevity of husband

Saurabh Sharma

Lucknow: Who in the world is not aware about with the diverse culture of India with over hundreds of tribes and communities practicing their bizarre culture to keep their traditions alive.

There happens to be a Gachwaha tribe and its women practice the life of a widow for the longevity and well-being of their husbands in few districts of Uttar Pradesh.

The Gachwaha tribe is related with the occupation of manufacturing 'palm wine' commonly known as 'Taadi' and reside in Deoria, Gorakhpur and Kushinagar districts.

The work of extracting wines from the palm tree ranges from five to

six months and during this period, the women of this tribe neither don

vermilion on their head nor do they do any sort of make up which

represent their marital status.

These women keep all their belongings related to their marriage at

the Tarkulha Devi temple, situated about 25 kms from the district

headquarters, for long lives of their husband.

Tarkulha Devi is known to be the main deity of this tribe and the

temple is no less than a pilgrim spot for them.

Gachwaha women sport all the traditions of a widow during these

months and gather for offering prayers at the Tarkulha temple on

Nagpanchami in Hindu month of Shravan and thereafter, they wear the

vermilion.

There is also a tradition of animal sacrifice during this prayers.

However, there is no information that since how long this tradition is

being pursued by this tribe, but people of Gachwaha community says

that they have heard of this custom from their ancestors.

Extracting wine from palm trees is a very tough job as the height of

these trees even cross 50 feet and more.