Without Spouse: Phenomenology of Widowhood among Hindu Young Widows

Abstract

When a woman is widowed, it is a traumatic moment in her life. The pain would aggravate a widowed woman whose husband died at a younger age. This paper attempts to depict the lived experience of widowhood from the perspective of young Hindu widows by using a descriptive phenomenological approach guided by Husserlian philosophy. The selected widows for this study were under 45 years old when they had lost their husbands. This paper excerpts from the author’s empirical study for his doctoral thesis. The article will focus on four major themes that emerged from analysing the transcribed data collected from seventieth widows through personal face-to-face interviews. These themes are grief, restrictiveness, suspiciousness, and loneliness, which will discuss elaborately throughout this article. The article advocates that researching the lived experience through a phenomenological approach can enhance understanding of any traumatic phenomenon humans encounter. This way, specific initiatives can be taken by the community, non-governmental organisations, etc., for better counselling and redressing widows’ mental issues.