探秘印度的“寡婦之城”

Thousands of widows have been making their way to one particular town in the north of India. Cast out by their families， or simply alone in the world， some travel hundreds of miles to get there， and nobody quite knows why.

India is jam-packed with holy sites and 1）pilgrimage destinations. But few places are as closely associated with the 2）deity 3）Krishna as is Vrindavan， on the banks of the Yamuna， a few hours’drive south-east of 4）Delhi.

Here， in this temple-crammed town， the name of Krishna is on everyone’s lips along with the name of his childhood sweetheart， Radha.

Krishna， according to the great epic 5）Mahabharata， was born in the nearby forest and it was around here that the young fluteplaying 6）trickster flirted with the cow herders and enjoyed that love affair known to every 7）Hindu with the beautiful， divine Radha.

Radha and Krishna， the two names bound together forever， and in the minds of every pilgrim who arrives in town to walk the ritual circuit of temples and bathing ghats （steps leading down towards the water）.

But Vrindavan has its darker， less-loving side—it is known as “the city of widows”.

Spend a little while observing the pilgrims coming in and out of the temples and you see these widows—usually quite elderly women—dressed in simple white and often begging.

Widows in India no longer throw themselves on the funeral 8）pyres of their husbands. But life for them can still be hard.

Considered 9）inauspicious， many soon find they have lost their income and are 10）ostracised in their home villages. Some are sent away by their husbands’ families who want to prevent them inheriting money or property.

Nobody can quite explain why this particular town attracts widows from all around India—particularly， it seems， from Bengal.

There are as many as 6，000 of them in this place alone and more in the surrounding countryside.

Some come as genuine pilgrims to devote their remaining years to the service of Radha/Krishna， but many others come here to escape from brutal family homes or have been flung out by their sons and daughters-in-law as unwanted baggage.

This is one unusual aspect of Indian society that the government might prefer the outside world not to see， despite all their genuine efforts to solve the problem.

In a small temple， some of them are sitting cross-legged on the courtyard floor while young volunteers slosh out piles of rice and 11）dal.

Sitting inside， people in a smaller group tell their stories.

Most had travelled here from West Bengal， for some a journey of over 1，000 miles （1，600km）—often by themselves and many leaving behind friends and grandchildren.

Saif Ali Das is just 60 years old but she looks much older and her walk is lopsided. Her husband was a drunk， she says， who died 12 years ago after a fall.

She had a daughter who died in hospital and a son who was murdered over a land dispute. After his death she was left entirely alone and fled to this place that she had heard was safe.

Sondi is a tough 80-year-old whose husband died young， she had to bring up her four children by herself. It is her daughter-in-law who effectively threw her out， saying it was her own husband who kept the family going and “as you have not got a husband you will have to look after yourself ”.

For many of these Bengalis， surrounded by Hindi speakers， it is as if they are living in a foreign land. Some are 12）feisty and resentful， others broken and afraid.

The authorities run four 13）ashrams—a form of spiritual commune—where some of the women are housed， but many need to beg to pay for rented accommodation. Some claim that the locals treat them quite roughly and it is only the pilgrims who are happy to win spiritual merit by giving them money.

Gauri Dasi left the Bengal border with Bangladesh because of tensions in the area in 1971. She arrived in Vrindavan with her husband， with whom she had three daughters.

He then deserted them and all her daughters were married off when they reached the age of 10.

Dasi has been living alone in Vrindavan for the past 15 years and feels pushed into dedicating her life to the devotion of Radha.

She gets paid a few coins for singing devotional songs in the temples. She has become one of India’s millions who have renounced the world to follow a spiritual path， but she is one of the reluctant ones.

Many of these servants of god appear to live tragic lives on the streets of this romance-drenched town.

The government and pilgrims can help keep these refugees from family life 14）stave off from starvation， but they are less able to quell injustices and age-old superstitions in Bengal.

For some here， to even cast an eye on a widow is considered deeply unlucky.

一直以來，成千上萬的寡婦都會趕往印度北部的一個小城。她們被家人掃地出門或本來就是孤苦無依，不遠千里來到這個地方，個中緣由無人說得清楚。

在印度，宗教圣地和朝圣之地比比皆是，但卻很少有哪個地方能像維倫達文一樣，與印度神明克利須那的關系那樣緊密。維倫達文坐落在亞穆納河沿岸，德里往東南方數小時車程可達。

在這個廟宇鱗次櫛比的小城，克利須那還有與他青梅竹馬的拉達，兩人名字常常被人們掛在嘴邊。

根據偉大史詩《摩呵羅婆多》所記載，克利須那出生在維倫達文附近的森林，也是在此地附近，這位年輕的浪子手持長笛，與牧牛女嬉戲，并與美麗的女神拉達墜入愛河，他們的風流韻事在印度家喻戶曉。

拉達與克利須那這兩個名字被永遠地連在了一起，并記在了每個來到這個小城的朝圣者的心中，他們遵循宗教儀式，圍著城里的寺廟與河壇（通向河流的臺階）行走。

然而，維倫達文也有其陰暗無情的一面——它被稱為“寡婦之城”。

只要花點時間觀察一下寺廟前進進出出的朝圣者，你就能看到這些寡婦，她們通常都是些老婦人，一身白色素衣，時常在行乞。

如今印度的寡婦已不再需要為其丈夫陪葬，但是她們的生活仍舊艱難。

由于被視為不祥之人，許多寡婦很快就發現她們失去了經濟收入，還被她們村子里的人趕了出來。有些寡婦則被她們丈夫那邊的親戚趕走，以防她們繼承錢財和房產。

沒人能確切地解釋清楚為何這個小城對全印度的寡婦能有這么大的吸引力——似乎，特別是來自于孟加拉地區的寡婦。……