Why arent Men Widows?

Hi..

I was watcing Water today on PPV. N a character in the movie asked a really gud question..

"Why arent men widows?"

Why do women have to wear white saris? When someone's wife dies why do they still wear colorful clothes?

im not sure this i think goes back o the begging when india was born

Originally posted by: mythili_Kiran

Why are Men not widows????
They don't have any specific procedures,rituals to make them widows(male version).But in my language a person whose wife is nomore(i',e dead ) is called VIDHU and he is not eligible for the performance of rituals ,just like a VIDHVA.
No more comments!!!!

absolutely ......... why shud only women be degraded if their husbands die ?.......

The practise of widows wearing white sarees and shaving heads was done in ancient times. I don't know if it is still followed at least not in the state where I belong to.

I have always wondered why men were never asked to follow such customs in ancient times. This is something which explains it though I still don't accept the reasoning.

Source:http://www.bvashram.org

Q: The husband is never made to undergo such cruel customs on the death of his wife. Why is this discrimination made in Hinduism?

A: The husband also takes to a vow of renunciation, but he does so at the age of fifty. Traditionally the wife was always younger than the husband by many years, and as such it was most common that the husband would die before the wife. For this reason the man's vows of renunciation do not depend on the death of his wife, but on his age.

The scriptures have advised the men as follows:

pancasordhvam vanam vrajet

"After crossing fifty years one should go to the forest."

The vow of renunciation is also there for men. The man should leave his wife in the care of his fully grown son, and take to a life of vows. At first the man will take the vows of the vana-prastha ashrama, wherein he will continue living with his wife in the forest while practicing various vows of austerity. After following these vows for 25 years, at the age of 75, he will formally accept the sannyasa-ashram, at which time it is considered that he has socially died. The wife will be left with the son to be taken care of, and she will also accept the renounced life of a widow. Thus both husband and wife undertake similar vows in their old age to prepare themselves for death and the afterlife.

IMO, these arbitrary customs were made by men to suit other men.

There is no proper reasoning behind them.

I'm not too sure but I just think that it's kinda been like men have always had more power..what they say..happens..when we say..we are told to be silent 😕 This world is biased according to me..and even though we call ourselves 21st century people..our minds still think according to the 1980 generation
No matter how much this world has changed..men still have more of a right than women..women dress up and act like they have no life left after their husbands are no more and when this happens to the men and when their wife is no more then they lead their life as normal..what sort of justice is this?!!

Tina xx

Well I think this was because men made all the rules and this just another example how male dominated our society is..

Originally posted by: T.

IMO, these arbitrary customs were made by men to suit other men.

There is no proper reasoning behind them.

I agree with T.