The Tradition of Sati in India
by Dr. Jyotsna Kamat
Sati (Su-thi , a.k.a. suttee) is the traditional Hindu practice of a widow
immolating herself on her husband's funeral pyre.
"Sati" means a virtuous woman. A woman who dies burning herself on her
husbands funeral fire was considered most virtuous, and was believed to
directly go to heaven, redeeming all the forefathers rotting in hell, by this"
meritorious" act. The woman who committed Sati was worshipped as a Goddess,
and temples were built in her memory.
Sati was prevalent among certain sects of the society in ancient India, who
either took the vow or deemed it a great honor to die on the funeral pyres of
their husbands. Ibn Batuta (1333 A.D.) has observed that Sati was considered
praiseworthy by the Hindus, without however being obligatory. The Agni Purana
declares that the woman who commits sahagamana goes to heaven. However,
Medhatiti pronounced that Sati was like suicide and was against the Shastras,
the Hindu code of conduct. It is believed that they were not coerced, although
several wives committed Sati. The majority of the widows did not undergo Sati.
Maha-sati stones (hero-stones) were erected in memory of brave women who
committed sati and are periodically worshipped. There are not many instances
of remarriage of widows in Indian history and it is believed that women
preferred death to the cursed life a widow (see: Origins of the Sati System).
Many hero-stones claim that the wife has committed Sati out of tremendous
love for husband, so they can be together after death, but these are not
historically substantiated. One finds a large number of satis committed just
after the war (like the Johar in Rajasthan (map - topics), when the women
must have died to protect their honor from the invading enemies after their
men perished in the battlefield.
Indian leader Rajaram Mohan Roy, through his organization Brahmo Samaj was
among the first who fought to eliminate Sati. The ritual of sati was banned by
the British Government in 1829 (see a timeline of Sati). However, it took a
large scale social reforms by Dayananda Saraswati(of Arya Samaj), Mahatma
Gandhi and the like to actually stop the practice (see: Timeline of Sati).
In the modern times, there was one instance of a Sati reported in Rajasthan
(late 1980s), and another in Madhya Pradesh (in year 2002) that caused a lot
of controversy and social turmoil.
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Sati seemed to be Indian of origin, so I thought an India legend might suit
her character better.
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