Mariana Zilbershteyn, Widow of Vrindavan (PEOPLE 2023)

On March 6 2023 hundreds of widows from the various shelter homes and ashrams in Vrindavan gathered at the Gopinath Temple (Uttar Pradesh, India ) to celebrate Holi…..the festival of colours. The majority of the widows originate from West Bengal and travel to Vrindavan in search of peace and salvation. The widows are compelled by society to live a life of loneliness, despair, and poverty. Since 2013 the widows have been permitted to celebrate Holi. This brings a sense of belongingness by taking part in the festival of colours and celebrate with showering flower petals on each other, singing traditional Holi song with their faces smeared with colours.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.