Widow fasts for 'immortal' husband's longevity

Ultimate devotion

The widow of a martyr still keeps her date with the Karva Chauth fast every year, praying for her husband’s long life as she believes he “will never die”.

Karva Chauth is a one-day festival celebrated by Hindu women in North West India where married women dress up in their best attire, fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husbands.

But for Virangana Sunil Kanwar of Sanji Chath village in the Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan, it is her 20th Karva Chauth without her husband. Her husband, Jagdish Singh Shekawat, martyred in Kashmir. 

Like the saying goes a martyr never dies but lives on in people’s memory, she has been celebrating the festival in memory of her husband even in his absence. She has never missed a Karva Chauth in the last 20 years after her husband’s demise.

Virangana says: “Though my husband is not physically present with me, his soul still lives with me. For me he is still alive. For me he will never die.”

The only difference in her Karva Chauth post death of her husband is earlier she used to dress up by applying mehendi on her hands and using cosmetics, but now she has left all those personal cares behind and only fasts and performs puja with a photo of her husband.