 As a widow in a horseless chariot, Dhumavati is portrayed as a woman going nowhere in life and society. She is "all that is unlucky, unattractive and inauspicious". She appears in the form of the poor, the beggars, the lepers, and the diseased. She dwells in the "wounds of the world", deserts, ruined houses, poverty, tatters, hunger, thirst, quarrels, mourning of children, in wild and other uncivilized, dangerous places. Widows in general are considered inauspicious, dangerous, and susceptible to possession by evil spirits. As a divine widow, Dhumavati is to be feared. Dhumavati is described as a hag or witch, crafty and quarrelsome; she represents all the dreaded miseries of life.
