Forgotten widows of

Vrindavan
Design Dissertation
 Drashti Mehta

39 – A

-
- Women empowerment center
- Widow care center at Vrindavan

Background Study

“You can tell the condition of a nation by looking at the status of its
women”

- Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

Despite of having fairly long and enlarged provisions including a host

of other laws enacted by the government, the empirical reality tells a
quite different story about the women’s condition in India which is
gloomy and marginal.

The women are still subdued in our society; they are still not
economically emancipated.

About the women who are homeless and abundant from their houses
are in the worse condition.

Thus this study aims to understand the meaning of empowerment, their

degraded value and find the relationship between women and their
livelihood engagement.

To be more specific - does economic empowerment means overall

development of women.
Here the topic raised is about the widows of the nation, the widows
who are abundant from their houses and now stay in Vrindavan.

Livelihood and Widows in Vrindavan-

The widows here come to gain salvation in the bhakti of Lord Krishna
but their lifestyle is compromised at the lowest level. Thrown out of
their homes, these widows get to stay at a home in Vrindavan where
they spend most of the time doing kirtan and begging. Many of them
have been lured by their children and family into leaving their house to
go to Vrindavan in the ‘name of God’.

They take up daily house hold courses to earn since they cannot work
anywhere else. In return for the money they earn, the landlords provide
them with a minimum amount for their living.

About 6,000 widows are residing there, a majority of whom are from
West Bengal.

The land of lord Krishna, Vrindavan is considered as a holy place for

Hindus. But the conditions in which these women are forced to live
shed light on how poorly they are treated by their families.

Empowerment-

The term empowerment here is a continuous process and cannot be

seen in isolation rather one has to have holistic approach to develop the
community.

The women needs to stand for themselves and work on their miserable

There are existing NGOs and agencies that help these women and often,
successfully also. But they provide ready food and shelter so after some
point women inevitably end up going back to their origins because they
aren't educated/ trained to do be independent, they've never believed
they can earn and live

A empowerment center for these widows would be more than just a

roof over their heads and food for them, it would include basic
education, employment opportunities and most of all the realization
that they are a wanted and needed part of society.

Bibliography of the reports referred –

1. CNBC – News report

https://www.cnbctv18.com/photos/buzz/the-widows-of-
vrindavan-2537551.htm

2. The Hindustan times – News report

https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Delhi/forgotten-
widows-of-vrindavan/article19574277.ece

3. Study of widows at Vrindavan – Report by Dr. Girija Vyas

http://ncwapps.nic.in/pdfReports/WidowsAtVrindavanReport.
pdf

4. Magazine article – lens culture

https://www.lensculture.com/articles/massimiliano-clausi-
women-of-vrindavan
 Purpose of study
This study questions the current scenario of the widow in the state and their
wellness. The purpose of taking up the project is to create a helpdesk, a support
system, a healthy environment for homeless widow in need of it; to give any
woman in need a chance at normalcy.

The major concern of this study is to promote a more empowering notion that
disassociates the vulnerability of widows from its normative of victimhood and
helplessness and to refigure our understanding of how they motivate survival
strategies in them.

It is to challenge the very idea of "shelter homes", that act as just that: a shelter for
them and does not help them grow.

So why just a shelter?

Why just protect women, why not create them helping hand to grow and develop?

Globally, the only space created for these women are shelter that more often do not
work on their development or help economic growth.

The women here are the widows, some-how they are the ones treated with
disrespect, looked down upon, shamed and burdened with social stigma; locked up
in terrible conditions and mistreated all over again, when they are the ones in need
of help, support, understanding, hope and empowerment.

Aim
 This aims to establish a relationship between livelihood engagement of the
women and their empowerment through it.
 The aim of the center is to create awareness about the condition of the
widows and helping them to improve their living condition.
 To empower the widow to be capable enough to earning their livelihood.
 To explore the potential of the women and provide them a platform to
showcase their work.
 The project aims to sensitizing the environment where widows may nurture
at personal will for self-development.
 To give them a dignified life and offering them services like healthcare,
education and some basic household work to help them earn.

Objective
 The overall objective is to engage women in earning their livelihood through
their capability and skills.
 To provide a platform for the widows to earn and say no to dependency on
NGOs.
 To provide proper care and living conditions to live their lives happily
 To host an appropriate set of programs to rightfully empower the women
which provide them doors of opportunities.
 To achieve a design that is comfortable for the user and according to their
daily courses.

Hypothesis
 In this century still there are widows who are ill-treated and not provided
any proper shelter and facilities. The project hereby is focusing on the
widows who are not able to be the breadwinner due to the cultural barriers.
 The not only target to create shelter but also to provide them with capability
to work and earn, so they need not be dependent on only one.
 The purpose of the project is to create healthy environment for women to
redevelop themselves, using architecture and its elements as a tool to help
women grow mentally and economically. Although the project may not solve
all the issue, it aims to be a step forward towards a better world for women.
 The focus is for the wellbeing of the widows and supporting them to stand
again in the society.
 A community can be developed for the women to stay.

Scope
 ‘Women’s empowerment in India is the need of the hour’
Empowerment is something which has the potential to escalate the confidence of
any woman.

A woman can gain courage which will motivate her to do whatever she has
planned to do. Besides this, women’s empowerment in India will make women’s
feel safe anywhere in the country.

For this reason the proposed project is making an effort to change the devastating
conditions of widows in Vrindavan. This may act as a boon in their lives

The project may help many abandoned widows and homeless women to gain their
self-respect.

The project will help them grow and be self-confident to face the society. It might
provide the path for the widows to walk towards the society with dignity.

The project will create a community cluster, domestic scale of living, creating a

place where the relationships of livelihood and empowerment are formed.

Limitation
 The information collection process for the purpose of the report was
undertaken and confined to the city of Vrindavan.
 There are very limited studies about the community centres designed for
widows.
 Vrindavan being a very prime city of lord Krishna’s devotee, there might be
many rituals and restrictions that may leave challenges to achieve the desired
result.
 The project is to create homes for the widows to stay hence it should also
consider the post occupancy impact on the users.
 The design needs to be such that there should be flexibility in terms of
different lifestyle of each widow.

Research methodology
The methodology includes Collection of primary data based on survey and online
research.

It starts with the study of condition of women in Indian.

Focusing on the abandoned widows of vrindavan , they are homeless and helpless.

The problem noted needs to be solved architecturally and later the study from
different articles, newspapers, books, online case study, videos, ted talks etc. will be
done.

Start working on the case studies that are similar to dealing with the issue.

Researching about the Ngo’s and the existing services and facilities provided to
them.

Gathering all the information, a comprehensive study to study how your structure
needs to be the most facilitative and supportive to the women.

Issues

Data collection

Narrowing the issue and finding the niche

Opportunities and Scope

Identifying the user

Data collection – Primary and secondary

Background study

Literature review

Analysis