![Suttee](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Suttee._Wellcome_V0041335.jpg)
Sati or suttee is a
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
practice, now largely historical, in which a
widow sacrifices herself by sitting atop her deceased husband's funeral
pyre.
[ Quote: Between 1943 and 1987, some thirty women in Rajasthan (twenty-eight, according to official statistics) immolated themselves on their husband's funeral pyre. This figure probably falls short of the actual number. (p. 182)] Although it is debated whether it received scriptural mention in early Hinduism, it has been linked to related Hindu practices in the
Indo-Aryan speaking regions of India which diminished the rights of women, especially those to the inheritance of property. A cold form of sati, or the neglect and casting out of Hindu widows has been prevalent in India from ancient times.
[ Quote: Sati is a particularly relevant social practice because it is often used as a means to prevent inheritance of property by widows. In parallel, widows are also sometimes branded as witches – and subjected to violent expulsion from their homes – as a means to prevent their inheritance.] Greek sources from around 300 BCE make isolated mention of sati,
but it probably developed into a real fire sacrifice in the medieval era within the northwestern
Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
clans to which it initially remained limited, to become more widespread during the late medieval era.
During the early-modern
Mughal period of 1526–1857, it was notably associated with elite Hindu Rajput clans in western
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, marking one of the points of divergence between Hindu Rajputs and the Muslim
Mughals, who banned the practice.
In the early 19th century, the British
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
, in the process of extending its
rule
Rule or ruling may refer to:
Education
* Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), a university in Cambodia
Human activity
* The exercise of political or personal control by someone with authority or power
* Business rule, a rule perta ...
to most of India, initially tolerated the practice;
William Carey, a British Christian evangelist, noted 438 incidents within a 30-mile (48-km) radius of the capital, Calcutta, in 1803, despite its ban within Calcutta.
[
]
Between 1815 and 1818 the number of incidents of ''sati'' in Bengal doubled from 378 to 839. Opposition to the practice of ''sati'' by evangelists like Carey, and by Hindu reformers such as
Ram Mohan Roy, ultimately led the British
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 1 ...
Lord William Bentinck
Lieutenant General Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck (14 September 177417 June 1839), known as Lord William Bentinck, was a British soldier and statesman who served as the Governor of Fort William (Bengal) from 1828 to 1834 and the First G ...
to enact the
Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829
The Bengal Sati Regulation, or Regulation XVII, in India under East India Company rule, by the Governor-General Lord William Bentinck, which made the practice of sati or suttee illegal in all jurisdictions of India and subject to prosecu ...
, declaring the practice of burning or burying alive of Hindu widows to be punishable by the criminal courts. Other legislation followed, countering what the British perceived to be interrelated issues involving violence against Hindu women, including:
Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856
The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act 1856, also Act XV, 1856, passed on 16 July 1856, legalised the remarriage of widows in all jurisdictions of India under East India Company rule.The act was enacted on 26 July 1856. It was drafted by Lord Dalhou ...
,
Female Infanticide Prevention Act, 1870
The Female Infanticide Prevention Act, 1870, also Act VIII of 1870 was a legislative act passed in British India, to prevent murder of female infants. The Section 7 of this Act declared that it was initially applicable only to the territories of ...
, and
Age of Consent Act, 1891
The Age of Consent Act, 1891, also known as Act X of 1891, was a legislation enacted in British India on 19 March 1891 which raised the age of consent for sexual intercourse for all girls, married or unmarried, from ten to twelve years in all ju ...
. Ram Mohan Roy observed that when women allow themselves to be consigned to the funeral pyre of a deceased husband it results not just "from religious prejudices only," but, "also from witnessing the distress in which widows of the same rank in life are involved, and the insults and slights to which they are daily subject."
Isolated incidents of ''sati'' were recorded in India in the late-20th century, leading the Indian government to promulgate the
Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987
Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 is a law enacted by Government of Rajasthan in 1987. It became an Act of the Parliament of India with the enactment of The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 in 1988. The Act seeks to prevent ''sati'', the volu ...
, criminalising the aiding or glorifying of ''sati''.
The modern laws have proved difficult to implement; as of 2020, at least 250 ''sati'' temples existed in India in which prayer ceremonies, or ''
pujas'', were performed to glorify the avatar of a mother goddess who immolated herself on a husband's funeral pyre after hearing her father insult him; prayers were also performed to the ''practice'' of a wife immolating herself alive on a deceased husband's funeral pyre.
Etymology and usage
![OrchhaSatiTemple](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/OrchhaSatiTemple.jpg)
''Sati'' (
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
: सती / ') is derived from the name of the goddess
Sati, who self-immolated because she was unable to bear her father
Daksha
In Hinduism, Daksha (Sanskrit: दक्ष, IAST: , lit. "able, dexterous, or honest one") is one of the '' Prajapati'', the agents of creation, as well as a divine king-rishi. His iconography depicts him as a man with a stocky body and a ha ...
's humiliation of her and her husband
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hindu ...
.
The term ''sati'' was originally interpreted as "
chaste
Chaste refers to practicing chastity.
Chaste may also refer to:
* Aymar Chaste (1514–1603), Catholic French admiral
* Chaste (Marvel Comics), a fictional Marvel Comics martial arts enclave
* Chaste (canton) - see List of townships in Quebec
T ...
woman". ''Sati'' appears in
Hindi
Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...
and
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
texts, where it is synonymous with "good wife";
the term ''suttee'' was commonly used by
Anglo-Indian English writers.
''Sati'' designates therefore originally the woman, rather than the rite. Variants are:
* ''Sativrata'', an uncommon and seldom used term, denotes the woman who makes a vow, ''vrata'', to protect her husband while he is alive and then die with her husband.
* ''Satimata'' denotes a venerated widow who committed ''sati''.
The rite itself had technical names:
* ''Sahagamana'' ("going with") or ''sahamarana'' ("dying with").
* ''Anvarohana'' ("ascension" to the pyre) is occasionally met, as well as ''satidaha'' as terms to designate the process.
* ''Satipratha'' is also, on occasion, used as a term signifying the custom of burning widows alive.
The Indian Commission of
Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987
Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 is a law enacted by Government of Rajasthan in 1987. It became an Act of the Parliament of India with the enactment of The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 in 1988. The Act seeks to prevent ''sati'', the volu ...
Part I, Section 2(c) defines ''sati'' as the act or rite itself.
Origin and spread
The origins and spread of the practice of ''sati'' are complex and much debated questions, without a general consensus. It has been speculated that rituals such as widow sacrifice or widow burning have prehistoric roots. The archaeologist
Elena Efimovna Kuzmina
Elena Efimovna Kuzmina (russian: Еле́на Ефи́мовна Кузьмина́; 13 April 193117 October 2013) was a Russian archaeologist. She was the chief research officer of the Russian Institute for Cultural Researches. She led 25 archae ...
has listed several parallels between the burial practices of the ancient Asiatic steppe
Andronovo culture
The Andronovo culture (russian: Андроновская культура, translit=Andronovskaya kul'tura) is a collection of similar local Late Bronze Age cultures that flourished 2000–1450 BC,Grigoriev, Stanislav, (2021)"Andronovo ...
s (fl. 1800–1400 BCE) and the
Vedic Age
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, betw ...
. She considers ''sati'' to be a largely symbolic double burial or a double cremation, a feature she argues is to be found in both cultures, with neither culture observing it strictly.
Vedic symbolic practice
According to
Romila Thapar
Romila Thapar (born 30 November 1931) is an Indian historian. Her principal area of study is ancient India, a field in which she is pre-eminent. Quotr: "The pre-eminent interpreter of ancient Indian history today. ... " Thapar is a Professor ...
, in the
Vedic period
The Vedic period, or the Vedic age (), is the period in the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age of the history of India when the Vedic literature, including the Vedas (ca. 1300–900 BCE), was composed in the northern Indian subcontinent, betw ...
, when "mores of the clan gave way to the norms of caste", wives were obliged to join in quite a few rituals but without much authority. A ritual with support in a Vedic text was a "symbolic self-immolation" which it is believed a widow of status needed to perform at the death of her husband, the widow subsequently marrying her husband's brother. In later centuries, the text was cited as the origin of Sati, with a variant reading allowing the authorities to insist that the widow sacrifice herself in reality by joining her deceased husband on the funeral pyre.
Anand A. Yang notes that the Rig Veda refers to a "mimetic ceremony" where a "widow lay on her husband's funeral pyre before it was lit but was raised from it by a male relative of her dead husband." According to Yang, the word ''agre'', "to go forth," was (probably in the 16th century) mistranslated into ''agneh'', "into the fire," to give Vedic sanction for ''sati''.
Early medieval origins
![Eran_pillar_of_Goparaja_(detail)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/68/Eran_pillar_of_Goparaja_%28detail%29.jpg)
Sati as the burning of a widow with her deceased husband seems to have been introduced in the post-
Gupta times, after 500 CE.
Vidya Dehejia
Vidya Dehejia is a retired American academic and the Barbara Stoler Miller Professor Emerita of Indian and South Asian Art at Columbia University. She has published 24 books and numerous academic papers on the art of South Asia, and has curated ...
states that sati was introduced late into Indian society, and became regular only after 500 CE. According to
Ashis Nandy
Ashis Nandy ( bn, আশিস নন্দী; born 13 May 1937) is an Indian political psychologist, social theorist, and critic. A trained clinical psychologist, Nandy has provided theoretical critiques of European colonialism, development ...
, the practice became prevalent from the 7th century onward and declined to its elimination in the 17th century to gain resurgence in Bengal in the 18th century.
Historian
Roshen Dalal postulates that its mention in some of the
Puranas
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
indicates that it slowly grew in prevalence from 5th–7th century and later became an accepted custom around 1000 CE among those of higher classes, especially the
Rajputs
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
. One of the stanzas in the
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
describes
Madri's suicide by ''sati'', but is likely an
interpolation
In the mathematical field of numerical analysis, interpolation is a type of estimation, a method of constructing (finding) new data points based on the range of a discrete set of known data points.
In engineering and science, one often has a n ...
given that it has contradictions with the succeeding verses.
According to Dehejia, sati originated within the
kshatriyas (warrior) aristocracy and remained mostly limited to the warrior class among Hindus. According to Thapar, the introduction and growth of the practice of sati as a fire sacrifice is related to new Kshatriyas, who forged their own culture and took some rules "rather literally," with a variant reading of the Veda turning the symbolic practice into the practice of a widow burning herself with her husband. Thapar further points to the "subordination of women in patriarchal society," "changing 'systems of kinship'," and "control over female sexuality" as factors in the rise of ''sati''.
Medieval spread
The practice of sati was emulated by those seeking to achieve high status of the royalty and the warriors as part of the process of
sanskritisation
Sanskritisation (or Sanskritization) is a term in sociology which refers to the process by which castes or tribes placed lower in the caste hierarchy seek 'upward' mobility by emulating the rituals and practices of the dominant castes or upper ...
, but its spread was also related to the centuries of Islamic invasion and its expansion in South Asia,
and to the hardship and marginalisation that widows endured. Crucial was the adoption of the practice by Brahmins, despite prohibitions for them to do so.
Sati acquired an additional meaning as a means to preserve the honour of women whose men had been slain, akin to the practice of ''
jauhar'', with the ideologies of ''
jauhar'' and ''sati'' reinforcing each other. ''Jauhar'' was originally a self-chosen death for noble women facing defeat in war, and practised especially among the warrior Rajputs. Oldenburg posits that the enslavement of women by Greek conquerors may have started this practice, On attested Rajput practice of jauhar during wars, and notes that the ''kshatriyas'' or Rajput castes, not the Brahmins, were the most respected community in Rajasthan in north-west India, as they defended the land against invaders centuries before the coming of the Muslims. She proposes that Brahmins of the north-west copied Rajput practices, and transformed sati ideologically from the 'brave woman' into the 'good woman'. From those Brahmins, the practice spread to other non-warrior castes.
According to David Brick of Yale University, analyzing the ''
Vishnu Smriti
Vishnu Smriti (IAST: ) is one of the latest books of the Dharmaśāstra tradition in Hinduism and the only one which does not deal directly with the means of knowing dharma. The text has a strong bhakti orientation, requiring daily puja to the g ...
'' (700–1000 CE), sati existed among the Brahmins of Kashmir in the later half of the first millennium. The author of the text may have mentioned practices existing in his own community, as the ''Vishnu Smriti'' is believed to have been written in Kashmir. Brick asserts that the dates of other Dharmasastra texts mentioning ''sahagamana'' are not known with certainty, but that the priestly class throughout India was aware of the texts and the practice itself by the 12th century. It was practised in Bengal as early as the 12th century, prominently by Brahmins,. The practice increased among them, especially between 1680–1830, because widows had inheritance rights, and were increasingly pressured to die.
Colonial era revival
Sati practice resumed during the colonial era, particularly in significant numbers in colonial
Bengal Presidency
The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...
.
[ Three factors may have contributed this revival: sati was believed to be supported by Hindu scriptures by the 19th century; sati was encouraged by unscrupulous neighbours as it was a means of property annexation from a widow who had the right to inherit her dead husband's property under Hindu law, and sati helped eliminate the inheritor; ]poverty
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse social, economic, and political causes and effects. When evaluating poverty in ...
was so extreme during the 19th century that sati was a means of escape for a woman with no means or hope of survival.[Uma Narayan (1997), Dislocating Cultures: Identities, Traditions, and Third World Feminism, Routledge, , pp. 59–65]
Daniel Grey states that the understanding of origins and spread of sati were distorted in the colonial era because of a concerted effort to push "problem Hindu" theories in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Lata Mani wrote that all of the parties during the British colonial era that debated the issue, prescribed to the belief in a "golden age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during ...
" of Indian women followed by a decline in concurrence to the Muslim conquests. This discourse also resulted in promotion of a view of British missionaries rescuing "Hindu India from Islamic tyranny". Several British missionaries who had studied classical Indian literature attempted to employ Hindu scriptural interpretations in their missionary work to convince their followers that Sati was not mandated by Hinduism.
History
Earliest records
Few reliable records exist of the practice before the time of the Gupta Empire
The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed from the early 4th century CE to late 6th century CE. At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 467 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent. This period is considered as the Gol ...
(c. 400 CE).
Early Greek sources
Among those that do reference the practice, the lost works of the Greek historian Aristobulus of Cassandreia
Aristobulus of Cassandreia (c. 375 BC – 301 BC), Greek historian, son of Aristobulus, probably a Phocian settled in
Cassandreia, accompanied Alexander the Great on his campaigns. He served throughout as an architect and military engineer as wel ...
, who travelled to India with the expedition of Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
in , are preserved in the fragments of Strabo
Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could see ...
. There are different views by authors on what Aristobulus hears as widows of one or more tribes in India performing self-sacrifice on the husband's pyre, one author also mentions that widows who declined to die were held in disgrace. In contrast, Megasthenes who visited India during 300 BCE does not mention any specific reference to the practice, which Dehejia takes as an indication that the practice was non-existent then.
Diodorus writes about the wives of Ceteus, the Indian captain of Eumenes
Eumenes (; grc-gre, Εὐμένης; c. 362316 BC) was a Greek general and satrap. He participated in the Wars of Alexander the Great, serving as both Alexander's personal secretary and as a battlefield commander. He later was a participant in t ...
, competing for burning themselves after his death in the Battle of Paraitakene
The Battle of Paraitakene (also called Paraetacene; el, Παραιτακηνή) was a battle in the wars of the successors of Alexander the Great (see Diadochi) between Antigonus I Monophthalmus and Eumenes. It was fought in 317 BC.
Background
...
(317 BCE). The younger one is permitted to mount the pyre. Modern historians believe Diodorus's source for this episode was the eyewitness account of the now lost historian Hieronymus of Cardia Hieronymus of Cardia ( el, Ἱερώνυμος ὁ Καρδιανός, 354?–250 BC) was a Greek general and historian from Cardia in Thrace, and a contemporary of Alexander the Great (356–323 BC).
After the death of Alexander he followed the f ...
. Hieronymus' explanation of the origin of ''sati'' appears to be his own composite, created from a variety of Indian traditions and practices to form a moral lesson upholding traditional Greek values.[Bosworth, pp. 174–187] Modern scholarship has generally treated this instance as an isolated incident, not representative of general culture.
Two other independent sources that mention widows who voluntarily joined their husbands' pyres as a mark of their love are Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the estab ...
and Nicolaus of Damascus.
Early Sanskrit sources
Some of the early Sanskrit authors like Daṇḍin in '' Daśakumāracarita'' and Banabhatta in ''Harshacharita
The ''Harshacharita'' ( sa, हर्षचरित, ) (''The deeds of Harsha''), is the biography of Indian emperor Harsha by Banabhatta, also known as Bana, who was a Sanskrit writer of seventh-century CE India. He was the ''Asthana Kavi'', ...
'' mention that women who burnt themselves wore extravagant dresses. Bana tells about Yasomati who, after choosing to mount the pyre, bids farewell to her relatives and servants. She then decks herself in jewellery which she later distributes to others. Although Prabhakaravardhana's death is expected, Arvind Sharma suggests it is another form of sati. The same work mentions Harsha's sister Rajyasri trying to commit sati after her husband died. In '' Kadambari'', Bana greatly opposes sati and gives examples of women who did not choose sahgamana.
Sangam literature
Padma Sree asserts that other evidence for some form of sati comes from Sangam literature
The Sangam literature (Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், ''caṅka ilakkiyam'';) historically known as 'the poetry of the noble ones' (Tamil: சான்றோர் செய்யுள், ''Cāṉṟōr ceyyuḷ'') connotes ...
in Tamilkam: for instance the written in the 2nd century CE. In this tale, Kannagi, the chaste wife of her wayward husband Kovalan, burns Madurai to the ground when her husband is executed unjustly, then climbs a cliff to join Kovalan in heaven. She became an object of worship as a chaste wife, called Pattini in Sinhala and in Tamil, and is still worshipped today. An inscription in an urn burial from the 1st century CE tells of a widow who told the potter to make the urn big enough for both her and her husband. The similarly provides evidence that such practices existed in Tamil lands, and the claims widows prefer to die with their husband due to the dangerous negative power associated with them. However she notes that this glorification of sacrifice was not unique to women: just as the texts glorified "good" wives who sacrificed themselves for their husbands and families, "good" warriors similarly sacrificed themselves for their kings and lands. It is even possible that the sacrifice of the "good" wives originated from the warrior sacrifice tradition. Today, such women are still worshipped as '' Gramadevatas'' throughout South India.
Inscriptional evidence
According to Axel Michaels, the first inscriptional evidence of the practice is from Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
in 464 CE, and in India from 510 CE. The early evidence suggests that widow-burning practice was seldom carried out in the general population.[ Centuries later, instances of ''sati'' began to be marked by inscribed memorial stones called Sati stones. According to J.C. Harle, the medieval memorial stones appear in two forms – ''viragal'' (hero stone) and ''satigal'' (sati stone), each to memorialise something different. Both of these are found in many regions of India, but "rarely if ever earlier in date than the 8th or 9th century". Numerous memorial ''sati'' stones appear 11th-century onwards, states Michaels, and the largest collections are found in ]Rajasthan
Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...
.[ There have been few instances of sati in the ]Chola Empire
The Chola dynasty was a Tamil thalassocratic empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated to the 3rd century BCE d ...
in South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
. Vanavan Mahadevi, the mother of Rajaraja Chola I
Rajaraja I (947 CE – 1014 CE), born Arunmozhi Varman or Arulmozhi Varman and often described as Raja Raja the Great or Raja Raja Chozhan was a Chola emperor who reigned from 985 CE to 1014 CE. He was the most powerful Tamil king in South ...
(10th century) and Viramahadevi the queen of Rajendra Chola I (11th century) both committed Sati upon their husband's death by ascending the pyre. The 510 CE inscription at Eran mentioning the wife of Goparaja, a vassal of Bhanugupta, burning herself on her husband's pyre is considered to be a Sati stone.
Practice in Hindu-influenced cultures outside India
The early 14th-century CE traveller of Pordenone
Pordenone (; Venetian and fur, Pordenon) is the main ''comune'' of Pordenone province of northeast Italy in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region.
The name comes from Latin ''Portus Naonis'', meaning 'port on the Noncello (Latin ''Naon'') River'.
...
mentions wife burning in Zampa (Champa
Champa (Cham: ꨌꩌꨛꨩ; km, ចាម្ប៉ា; vi, Chiêm Thành or ) were a collection of independent Cham polities that extended across the coast of what is contemporary central and southern Vietnam from approximately the 2nd cen ...
), in nowadays south/central Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
. Anant Altekar states that ''sati'' spread with Hindu migrants to Southeast Asian islands, such as to Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...
, Sumatra
Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...
and Bali
Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
. According to Dutch colonial records, this was however a rare practice in Indonesia, one found in royal households.
In Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
, both the lords and the wives of a dead king voluntarily burnt themselves in the 15th and 16th centuries. According to European traveller accounts, in 15th century Mergui
Myeik (, or ; mnw, ဗိက်, ; th, มะริด, , ; formerly Mergui, ) is a rural city in Tanintharyi Region in Myanmar (Burma), located in the extreme south of the country on the coast off an island on the Andaman Sea. , the estimate ...
, in present-day extreme south Myanmar
Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
, widow burning was practised. A Chinese pilgrim from the 15th century seems to attest the practice on islands called Ma-i-tung and Ma-i (possibly Belitung
Belitung ( Belitung Malay: ''Belitong'', formerly Billiton) is an island on the east coast of Sumatra, Indonesia in the Java Sea. It covers , and had a population of 309,097 at the 2020 Census. Administratively, it forms two regencies (Bel ...
(outside Sumatra) and Northern Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, respectively).
According to the historian K.M. de Silva, Christian missionaries in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
with a substantial Hindu minority population, reported "there were no glaring social evils associated with the indigenous religions-no ''sati'', (...). There was thus less scope for the social reformer." However, although ''sati'' was non-existent in the colonial era, earlier Muslim travellers such as Sulaiman al-Tajir Sulaiman is an English transliteration of the Arabic name that means "peaceful" and corresponds to the Jewish name Hebrew: שְׁלֹמֹה, Shlomoh) and the English Solomon (/ˈsɒləmən/) . Solomon was the scriptural figure who was king of wh ...
reported that ''sati'' was optionally practised, which a widow could choose to undertake.
Mughal Empire (1526–1857)
;Ambivalence of Mughal rulers
According to Annemarie Schimmel
Annemarie Schimmel (7 April 1922 – 26 January 2003) was an influential German Orientalist and scholar who wrote extensively on Islam, especially Sufism. She was a professor at Harvard University from 1967 to 1992.
Early life and education
...
, the Mughal Emperor Akbar
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
(r.1556–1605) was averse to the practice of Sati; however, he expressed his admiration for "widows who wished to be cremated with their deceased husbands". He was averse to abuse, and in 1582, Akbar issued an order to prevent any use of compulsion in ''sati''.[XVII. "Economic and Social Developments under the Mughals"]
from ''Muslim Civilization in India'' by S. M. Ikram, edited by Ainslie T. Embree New York: Columbia University Press, 1964 According to M. Reza Pirbhai, a professor of South Asian and World history, it is unclear if a prohibition on ''sati'' was issued by Akbar, and other than a claim of ban by Monserrate upon his insistence, no other primary sources mention an actual ban. Instances of ''sati'' continued during and after the era of Akbar.[
]Jahangir
Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim (30 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was the fourth Mughal Emperor, who ruled from 1605 until he died in 1627. He was named after the Indian Sufi saint, Salim Chishti.
Ear ...
(r.1605–1627), who succeeded Akbar in the early 17th century, found ''sati'' prevalent among the Hindus of Rajaur.[ During this era, many Muslims and Hindus were ambivalent about the practice, with Muslim attitude leaning towards disapproval. According to Sharma, the evidence nevertheless suggests that ''sati'' was admired by Hindus, but both "Hindus and Muslims went in large numbers to witness a sati". According to Reza Pirbhai, the memoirs of Jahangir suggest ''sati'' continued in his regime, was practised by Hindus and Muslims, he was fascinated by the custom, and that those Kashmiri Muslim widows who practised ''sati'' either immolated themselves or buried themselves alive with their dead husbands. Jahangir prohibited such sati and other customary practices in Kashmir.]
Aurangzeb
Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...
issued another order in 1663, states Sheikh Muhammad Ikram, after returning from Kashmir, "in all lands under Mughal control, never again should the officials allow a woman to be burnt".[ The Aurangzeb order, states Ikram, though mentioned in the formal histories, is recorded in the official records of Aurangzeb's time.][ Although Aurangzeb's orders could be evaded with payment of bribes to officials, adds Ikram, later European travellers record that ''sati'' was not much practised in Mughal empire, and that Sati was "very rare, except it be some Rajah's wives, that the Indian women burn at all" by the end of Aurangzeb's reign.][
;Descriptions by Westerners
The memoirs of European merchants and travellers, as well the colonial era Christian missionaries of British India described Sati practices under Mughal rulers.][ Ralph Fitch noted in 1591:]
François Bernier (1620–1688) gave the following description:
The Spanish missionary Domingo Navarrete wrote in 1670 of different styles of Sati during Aurangzeb's time.
British and other European colonial powers
Non-British colonial powers in India
Afonso de Albuquerque
Afonso de Albuquerque, 1st Duke of Goa (; – 16 December 1515) was a Portuguese general, admiral, and statesman. He served as viceroy of Portuguese India from 1509 to 1515, during which he expanded Portuguese influence across the Indian Ocean ...
banned ''sati'' immediately after the Portuguese conquest of Goa in 1510. Local Brahmins convinced the newly-arrived Francisco Barreto
Francisco Barreto (occasionally Francisco de Barreto, 1520 – 9 July 1573) was a Portuguese soldier and explorer. An officer in Morocco during his early life, Barreto sailed to Portuguese India and was eventually appointed viceroy of the colony ...
to rescind the ban in 1555 in spite of protests from the local Christians and the Church authorities, but the ban was reinstated in 1560 by Constantino de Bragança with additional serious criminal penalties (including loss of property and liberty) against those encouraging the practice.
The Dutch and the French banned it in Chinsurah and Pondichéry, their respective colonies. The Danes, who held the small territories of Tranquebar
Tharangambadi (), formerly Tranquebar ( da, Trankebar, ), is a town in the Mayiladuthurai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the Coromandel Coast. It lies north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary named Uppanar of the Kave ...
and Serampore
Serampore (also called ''Serampur'', ''Srirampur'', ''Srirampore'', ''Shreerampur'', ''Shreerampore'', ''Shrirampur'' or ''Shrirampore'') is a city of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarter of the Srirampor ...
, permitted it until the 19th century. The Danish strictly forbade, apparently early the custom of ''sati'' at ''Tranquebar'', a colony they held from 1620–1845 (whereas Serampore (Frederiksnagore) was Danish colony merely from 1755–1845).
Early British policy
The first official British response to sati was in 1680 when the Agent of Madras Streynsham Master intervened and prohibited the burning of a Hindu widow in Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
. Attempts to limit or ban the practice had been made by individual British officers, but without the backing of the East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
. This is because it followed a policy of non-interference in Hindu religious affairs and there was no legislation or ban against Sati. The first formal British ban was imposed in 1798, in the city of Calcutta
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
only. The practice continued in surrounding regions. In the beginning of the 19th century, the evangelical church in Britain, and its members in India, started campaigns against ''sati''. This activism came about during a period when British missionaries in India began focusing on promoting and establishing Christian educational systems as a distinctive contribution of theirs to the missionary enterprise as a whole. Leaders of these campaigns included William Carey and William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...
. These movements put pressure on the company to ban the act. William Carey, and the other missionaries at Serampore
Serampore (also called ''Serampur'', ''Srirampur'', ''Srirampore'', ''Shreerampur'', ''Shreerampore'', ''Shrirampur'' or ''Shrirampore'') is a city of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarter of the Srirampor ...
conducted in 1803–04 a census on cases of ''sati'' for a region within a 30-mile radius of Calcutta, finding more than 300 such cases there.[ Carey's actual figures for the year 1803 was 275; for the months April–October 1804, the missionaries arrived at the figure 115. For 1803 and 1804 statistics More detailed on figures in ] The missionaries also approached Hindu theologians, who opined that the practice was encouraged, rather than enjoined by the Hindu scriptures.
Serampore was a Danish colony, rather than British, and the reason why Carey started his mission in Danish India, rather than in British territories, was because the East India Company did not accept Christian missionary activity within their domains. In 1813, when the Company's Charter came up for renewal William Wilberforce, drawing on the statistics on ''sati'' collected by Carey and the other Serampore missionaries and mobilising public opinion against suttee, successfully ensured the passage of a Bill in Parliament legalising missionary activities in Indias, with a view to ending the practice through the religious transformation of Indian society. He stated in his address to the House of Commons: Let us endeavour to strike our roots into the soil by the gradual introduction and establishment of our own principles and opinions; of our laws, institutions and manners; above all, as the source of every other improvement, of our religion and consequently of our morals
Elijah Hoole
Elijah Hoole (1798–1872) was an English orientalist and Wesleyan Methodist missionary.
Life
The son of Holland Hoole, a Manchester shoemaker, he was born there; he entered Manchester grammar school 6 April 1809, leaving in 1813 to help in h ...
in his book ''Personal Narrative of a Mission to the South of India, from 1820 to 1828'' reports an instance of Sati at Bangalore, which he did not personally witness. Another missionary, Mr. England, reports witnessing Sati in the Bangalore Civil and Military Station
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
on 9 June 1826. However, these practices were very rare after the Government of Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
cracked down on the practice from the early 1800s (p. 82).
The British authorities within the Bengal Presidency started systematically to collect data on the practice in 1815.
Principal reformers and 1829 ban
The principal campaigners against Sati were Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
and Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
reformers such as William Carey and Ram Mohan Roy. In 1799 Carey, a Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
missionary
A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
from England, first witnessed the burning of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre. Horrified by the practice, Carey and his coworkers Joshua Marshman and William Ward opposed ''sati'' from that point onward, lobbying for its abolishment. Known as the Serampore Trio
The Serampore Trio was the name given to three pioneering English missionaries, namely William Carey (1761-1834), Joshua Marshman, (1768-1837), and William Ward (1769-1823). William Carey arrived in Bengal in 1793 and Marshman and Ward arrived ...
, they published essays forcefully condemning the practice and presented an address against Sati to then Governor General of India, Lord Wellesley
Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, (20 June 1760 – 26 September 1842) was an Anglo-Irish politician and colonial administrator. He was styled as Viscount Wellesley until 1781, when he succeeded his father as 2nd Earl of M ...
.
In 1812, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, founder of Brahmo Samaj, began to champion the cause of banning ''sati'' practice. He was motivated by the experience of seeing his own sister-in-law being forced to commit ''sati''. He visited Kolkata's cremation grounds to persuade widows against immolation, formed watch groups to do the same, sought the support of other elite Bengali classes, and wrote and disseminated articles to show that it was not required by Hindu scripture.[ He was at loggerheads with Hindu groups which did not want the Government to interfere in religious practices.]
From 1815–1818 ''Sati'' deaths doubled. Ram Mohan Roy launched an attack on ''Sati'' that "aroused such anger that for awhile his life was in danger" In 1821 he published a tract opposing Sati, and in 1823 the Serampore missionaries led by Carey published a book containing their earlier essays, of which the first three chapters opposed Sati. Another Christian missionary published a tract against Sati in 1927.
Sahajanand Swami
Swaminarayan (IAST: ', 3 April 1781 – 1 June 1830), also known as Sahajanand Swami, was a yogi and ascetic, who is believed by followers to be a manifestation of God Krishna, or as the highest manifestation of Purushottam, and around ...
, the founder of the Swaminarayan sect, preached against the practice of ''sati'' in his area of influence, that is Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
. He argued that the practice had no Vedic
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
standing and only God could take a life he had given. He also opined that widows could lead lives that would eventually lead to salvation. Sir John Malcolm, the Governor of Bombay
Until the 18th century, Bombay consisted of seven islands separated by shallow sea. These seven islands were part of a larger archipelago in the Arabian sea, off the western coast of India. The date of city's founding is unclear—historians tr ...
supported Sahajanand Swami in this endeavour.
In 1828 Lord William Bentinck
Lieutenant General Lord William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck (14 September 177417 June 1839), known as Lord William Bentinck, was a British soldier and statesman who served as the Governor of Fort William (Bengal) from 1828 to 1834 and the First G ...
came to power as Governor of India. When he landed in Calcutta, he said that he felt "the dreadful responsibility hanging over his head in this world and the next, if… he was to consent to the continuance of this practice (sati) one moment longer."
Bentinck decided to put an immediate end to ''Sati''. Ram Mohan Roy warned Bentinck against abruptly ending ''Sati''. However, after observing that the judges in the courts were unanimously in favour of it, Bentinck proceeded to lay the draft before his council. Charles Metcalfe, the Governor's most prominent counselor expressed apprehension that the banning of ''Sati'' might be "used by the disaffected and designing" as "an engine to produce insurrection." However these concerns didn't deter him from upholding the Governor's decision "in the suppression of the horrible custom by which so many lives are cruelly sacrificed."
Thus on Sunday morning of 4 December 1829 Lord Bentinck issued Regulation XVII declaring ''Sati'' to be illegal and punishable in criminal courts. It was presented to William Carey for translation. His response is recorded as follows: "Springing to his feet and throwing off his black coat he cried, 'No church for me to-day... If I delay an hour to translate and publish this, many a widow's life may be sacrificed,' he said. By evening the task was finished."
On 2 February 1830 this law was extended to Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
and Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
. The ban was challenged by a petition signed by "several thousand… Hindoo inhabitants of Bihar, Bengal, Orissa etc" and the matter went to the Privy Council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
in London. Along with British supporters, Ram Mohan Roy presented counter-petitions to parliament in support of ending Sati. The Privy Council rejected the petition in 1832, and the ban on ''Sati'' was upheld.
After the ban, Balochi Balochi, sometimes spelt in various other ways, may refer to:
* Balochi language, a language of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan
* an adjective for something related to the Baloch people, an ethnic group of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan
* an adjecti ...
priests in the Sindh
Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...
region complained to the British Governor, Charles Napier about what they claimed was a meddlement in a sacred custom of their nation. Napier replied:Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs!
Thereafter, the account goes, no suttee took place.[Napier, William. (1851) ''History Of General Sir Charles Napier's Administration Of Scinde''. (p. 35). London: Chapman and Hal]
at books.google.com. Retrieved 10 July 2011
Princely states/Independent kingdoms
''Sati'' remained legal in some princely states for a time after it had been banned in lands under British control. Baroda
Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...
and other princely states of Kathiawar Agency
The Kathiawar Agency, on the Kathiawar peninsula in the western part of the Indian subcontinent, was a political unit of some 200 small princely states under the suzerainty of the Bombay Presidency of British India.
The agency's headquarters wer ...
banned the practice in 1840, whereas Kolhapur
Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'.
Kolhapur is kn ...
followed them in 1841, the princely state of Indore
Indore () is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is t ...
some time before 1843. According to a speaker at the East India House in 1842, the princely states of Satara, Nagpur
Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...
and Mysore
Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...
had by then banned ''sati''. Jaipur
Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...
banned the practice in 1846, while Hyderabad
Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...
, Gwalior
Gwalior() is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; it lies in northern part of Madhya Pradesh and is one of the Counter-magnet cities. Located south of Delhi, the capital city of India, from Agra and from Bhopal, the s ...
and Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to:
* Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent
* Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory
* Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...
did the same in 1847. Awadh and Bhopal
Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...
(both Muslim-ruled states) were actively suppressing ''sati'' by 1849. Cutch outlawed it in 1852 with Jodhpur
Jodhpur (; ) is the second-largest city in the Indian state of Rajasthan and officially the second metropolitan city of the state. It was formerly the seat of the princely state of Jodhpur State. Jodhpur was historically the capital of the Ki ...
having banned ''sati'' about the same time.
The 1846 abolition in Jaipur was regarded by many British as a catalyst for the abolition cause within Rajputana
Rājputana, meaning "Land of the Rajputs", was a region in the Indian subcontinent that included mainly the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan, as well as parts of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and some adjoining areas of Sindh in modern-day ...
; within 4 months after Jaipur's 1846 ban, 11 of the 18 independently governed states in Rajputana had followed Jaipur's example. One paper says that in the year 1846–1847 alone, 23 states in the whole of India (not just within Rajputana) had banned ''sati''. It was not until 1861 that ''Sati'' was legally banned in all the princely states of India, Mewar
Mewar or Mewad is a region in the south-central part of Rajasthan state of India. It includes the present-day districts of Bhilwara, Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh, Rajsamand, Udaipur, Pirawa Tehsil of Jhalawar District of Rajasthan, Neemuch and Man ...
resisting for a long time before that time. The last legal case of ''Sati'' within a princely state dates from 1861 Udaipur
Udaipur () (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic capit ...
the capital of Mewar, but as Anant S. Altekar shows, local opinion had then shifted strongly against the practice. The widows of Maharanna Sarup Singh declined to become ''sati'' upon his death, and the only one to follow him in death was a concubine. Later the same year, the general ban on ''sati'' was issued by a proclamation from Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
.
In some princely states such as Travancore
The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...
, the custom of ''Sati'' never prevailed, although it was held in reverence by the common people. For example, the regent Gowri Parvati Bayi
Uthrittathi Thirunal Gowri Parvathi Bayi (1802–1853) was the Regent of the Indian state of Travancore in 1815-1829. She succeeded her sister Maharani Gowri Lakshmi Bayi, till her regency was relinquished in favour of her nephew, Maharajah Swa ...
was asked by the British Resident if he should permit a ''sati'' to take place in 1818, but the regent urged him not to do so, since the custom of ''sati'' had never been acceptable in her domains. In another state, Sawunt Waree ( Sawantvadi), the king Khem Sawant III (r. 1755–1803) is credited for having issued a positive ''prohibition'' of sati over a period of ten or twelve years. That prohibition from the 18th century may never have been actively enforced, or may have been ignored, since in 1843, the government in Sawunt Waree issued a new prohibition of ''sati''.
Modern times
Legislative status of sati in present-day India
Following the outcry after the ''sati'' of Roop Kanwar Roop or ROOP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Roop - Mard Ka Naya Swaroop, Indian television show
* The Roop, a Lithuanian pop rock band
People With the first name
* Roop Durgapal, Indian actress
* Roop Kanwar (c. 1969–1987), Raj ...
, the Indian Government enacted the Rajasthan Sati Prevention Ordinance, 1987 on 1 October 1987.[Trial by fire](_blank)
''Communalism Combat'', Special Report, February–March 2004, Volume 10, No. 96, Sabrang Communications
Sabrang Communications is an organization founded in 1993 that publishes the monthly ''Communalism Combat'' magazine and that operates KHOJ, a secular education program, in schools in Mumbai, India.
''Communalism Combat'' is edited by Javed Anand a ...
and later passed the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987.
The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987
Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 is a law enacted by Government of Rajasthan in 1987. It became an Act of the Parliament of India with the enactment of The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 in 1988. The Act seeks to prevent ''sati'', the volu ...
Part I, Section 2(c) defines ''sati'' as:
The burning or burying alive of –
:(i) any widow along with the body of her deceased husband or any other relative or with any article, object or thing associated with the husband or such relative; or
:(ii) any woman along with the body of any of her relatives, irrespective of whether such burning or burying is claimed to be voluntary on the part of the widow or the women or otherwise
The ''Prevention of Sati Act'' makes it illegal to support, glorify or attempt to commit sati. Support of sati, including coercing or forcing someone to commit sati, can be punished by death sentence or life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
, while glorifying sati is punishable with one to seven years in prison.
Enforcement of these measures is not always consistent. The National Council for Women (NCW) has suggested amendments to the law to remove some of these flaws. Prohibitions of certain practices, such as worship at ancient shrines, is a matter of controversy.
Current situation
There were 30 reported cases of ''sati'' or attempted ''sati'' over a 44-year period (1943–1987) in India, the official number being 28. A well-documented case from 1987 was that of 18-year-old Roop Kanwar Roop or ROOP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Roop - Mard Ka Naya Swaroop, Indian television show
* The Roop, a Lithuanian pop rock band
People With the first name
* Roop Durgapal, Indian actress
* Roop Kanwar (c. 1969–1987), Raj ...
. In response to this incident, additional legislation against ''sati'' practice was passed, first within the state of Rajasthan, then nationwide by the central government of India.
In 2002, a 65-year-old woman by the name of Kuttu died after sitting on her husband's funeral pyre in Panna district of Madhya Pradesh. On 18 May 2006, Vidyawati, a 35-year-old woman allegedly committed sati by jumping into the blazing funeral pyre of her husband in Rari-Bujurg Village, Fatehpur district, Uttar Pradesh.
On 21 August 2006, Janakrani, a 40-year-old woman, burned to death on the funeral pyre of her husband Prem Narayan in Sagar district; Janakrani had not been forced or prompted by anybody to commit the act.
On 11 October 2008 a 75-year-old woman, Lalmati Verma, committed ''sati'' by jumping into her 80-year-old husband's funeral pyre at Checher in the Kasdol block of Chhattisgarh's Raipur district; Verma killed herself after mourners had left the cremation site.
Scholars debate whether these rare reports of ''sati'' suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
by widows are related to culture or are examples of mental illness and suicide.[ In the case of Roop Kanwar, Dinesh Bhugra states that there is a possibility that the suicides could be triggered by "a state of depersonalization as a result of severe bereavement", then adds that it is unlikely that Kanwar had mental illness and culture likely played a role. However, Colucci and Lester state that none of the women reported by media to have committed ''sati'' had been given a psychiatric evaluation before their ''sati'' suicide and thus there is no objective data to ascertain if culture or mental illness was the primary driver behind their suicide.][Erminia Colucci and David Lester (2012), Suicide and Culture: Understanding the Context, Hogrefe, , pp. 225–226] Inamdar, Oberfield and Darrell state that the women who commit ''sati'' are often "childless or old and face miserable impoverished lives" which combined with great stress from the loss of the only personal support may be the cause of a widow's suicide.
Practice
Accounts describe numerous variants in the sati ritual. The majority of accounts describe the woman seated or lying down on the funeral pyre beside her dead husband. Many other accounts describe women walking or jumping into the flames after the fire had been lit, and some describe women seating themselves on the funeral pyre and then lighting it themselves.
Variations in procedure
Although ''sati'' is typically thought of as consisting of the procedure in which the widow is placed, or enters, or jumps, upon the funeral pyre of her husband, slight variations in funeral practice have been reported here as well, by region. For example, the mid-17th-century traveller Tavernier claims that in some regions, the ''sati'' occurred by construction of a small hut, within which the widow and her husband were burnt, while in other regions, a pit was dug, in which the husband's corpse was placed along with flammable materials, into which the widow jumped after the fire had started. In mid-nineteenth-century Lombok, an island in today's Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
, the local Balinese aristocracy practised widow suicide on occasion; but only widows of royal descent could burn themselves alive (others were stabbed to death by a kris knife first). At Lombok, a high bamboo platform was erected in front of the fire and, when the flames were at their strongest, the widow climbed up the platform and dived into the fire.
Live burials
Most Hindu communities, especially in North India, only bury the bodies of those under the age of two, such as baby girls. Those older than two are customarily cremated. A few European accounts provide rare descriptions of Indian ''sati'' that included the burial of the widow with her dead husband.[The Representation of Sati: Four Eighteenth Century Etchings by Baltazard Solvyns](_blank)
by Robert L. Hardgrave, Jr. One of the drawings in the Portuguese Códice Casanatense
The Códice Casanatense, its popular Portuguese title, or the Codex Casanatense 1889, is a set of 16th century Portuguese illustrations, which depict peoples and cultures whom the Portuguese frequently had contact with around the Indian and Pacif ...
shows the live burial of a Hindu widow in the 16th century. Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a 17th-century world traveller and trader of gems, wrote that women were buried with their dead husbands along the Coast of Coromandel while people danced during the cremation rites.
The 18th-century Flemish
Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
painter Frans Balthazar Solvyns provided the only known eyewitness account of an Indian sati involving a burial.[ Solvyns states that the custom included the woman shaving her head, music and the event was guarded by ]East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
soldiers
A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer.
Etymology
The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...
. He expressed admiration for the Hindu woman, but also calls the custom barbaric.[''The Representation of Sati: Four Eighteenth Century Etchings by Baltazard Solvyns'']
by Robert L. Hardgrave, Jr.
The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987
Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 is a law enacted by Government of Rajasthan in 1987. It became an Act of the Parliament of India with the enactment of The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 in 1988. The Act seeks to prevent ''sati'', the volu ...
Part I, Section 2(c) includes within its definition of ''sati'' not just the act of burning a widow alive, but also that of burying her alive.
Compulsion
''Sati'' is often described as voluntary, although in some cases it may have been forced. In one narrative account in 1785, the widow appears to have been drugged either with bhang or opium
Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
and was tied to the pyre which would have prevented her from escaping the fire, if she changed her mind.
The Anglo-Indian press of the period proffered several accounts of alleged forcing of the woman. As an example, '' The Calcutta Review'' published accounts as the following one:
Apart from accounts of direct compulsion, some evidence exists that precautions, at times, were taken so that the widow could not escape the flames once they were lit. Anant S. Altekar, for example, points out that it is much more difficult to escape a fiery pit that one has jumped in, than descending from a pyre one has entered on. He mentions the custom of the fiery pit as particularly prevalent in the Deccan and western India. From Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
and Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
, where the widow typically was placed in a hut along with her husband, her leg was tied to one of the hut's pillars. Finally, from Bengal, where the tradition of the pyre held sway, the widow's feet could be tied to posts fixed to the ground, she was asked three times if she wished to ascend to heaven, before the flames were lit.
The historian Anant Sadashiv Altekar states that some historical records suggest without doubt that instances of sati were forced, but overall the evidence suggests most instances were a voluntary act on the woman's part.
Symbolic sati
There have been accounts of symbolic ''sati'' in some Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
communities. A widow lies down next to her dead husband, and certain parts of both the marriage ceremony and the funeral ceremonies are enacted, but without her death. An example in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
is attested from modern times. Although this form of symbolic ''sati'' has contemporary evidence, it should by no means be regarded as a modern invention. For example, the ancient and sacred Atharvaveda
The Atharva Veda (, ' from ' and ''veda'', meaning "knowledge") is the "knowledge storehouse of ''atharvāṇas'', the procedures for everyday life".Laurie Patton (2004), Veda and Upanishad, in ''The Hindu World'' (Editors: Sushil Mittal and G ...
, one of the four Veda
FIle:Atharva-Veda samhita page 471 illustration.png, upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the ''Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Co ...
s, believed to have been composed around 1000 BCE, describes a funerary ritual where the widow lies down by her deceased husband, but is then asked to ascend, to enjoy the blessings from the children and wealth left to her.
In 20th-century India, a tradition developed of venerating ''jivit'' (living satis). A ''jivit'' is a woman who once desired to commit sati, but lives after having sacrificed her desire to die. Two famous ''jivit'' were Bala Satimata, and Umca Satimata, both lived until the early 1990s.
Prevalence
Records of ''sati'' exist across the subcontinent. However, there seems to have been major differences historically, in different regions, and among communities. Furthermore, no reliable figures exist for the numbers who have died by ''sati'', in general.
Numbers
An 1829 report by a Christian missionary organisation includes among other things, statistics on ''sati''. It begins with a declaration that "the object of all missions to the heathen is to substitute for these systems the Gospel of Christ", thereafter lists ''sati'' for each year over the period 1815–1824 which totals 5,369, followed by a statement that a total of 5,997 instances of women were burned or buried alive in the Bengal presidency over the 10-year period, i.e., average 600 per year. In the same report, it states that the Madras and Bombay presidencies totalled 635 instances of ''sati'' over the same ten-year period. The 1829 missionary report does not provide its sources and acknowledges that "no correct idea can be formed of the number of murders occasioned by suttees", then states some of the statistics is based on "conjectures".[ According to Yang, these "numbers are fraught with problems".
William Bentinck, in an 1829 report, stated without specifying the year or period, that "of the 463 satis occurring in the whole of the Presidency of Fort William, 420 took place in Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, or what is termed the Lower Provinces, and of these latter 287 in the Calcutta Division alone". For the Upper Provinces, Bentinck added, "in these Provinces the satis amount to forty three only upon a population of nearly twenty millions", i.e., average one sati per 465,000.
]
Social composition and age distribution
Anand Yang, speaking of the early nineteenth century, says that contrary to conventional wisdom, ''sati'' was not, in general, confined to being an upper class phenomenon, but spread through the classes/castes. In the 575 reported cases from 1823, for example, 41 percent were Brahmins, some 6 percent were Kshatriyas, whereas 2 percent were Vaishiyas, and 51 percent Sudras. In Banaras
Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.
*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic tra ...
, though, in the 1815–1828 British records, the upper castes were only for two years represented with less than 70% of the total; in 1821, all sati were from the upper castes there.
Yang notes that many studies seem to emphasise the young age of the widows who committed ''sati''. However, by study of the British figures from 1815 to 1828, Yang states the overwhelming majority were ageing women: The statistics from 1825 to 1826 about two thirds were above the age of 40 when committing ''sati''.
Regional variations of incidence
Anand Yang summarizes the regional variation in incidence of ''sati'' as follows:
Konkan/Maharashtra
Narayan H. Kulkarnee believes that ''sati'' came to be practised in medieval Maharashtra
Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...
initially by the Maratha
The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...
nobility claiming Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
descent. Then, according to Kulkarnee, the practice of ''sati'' may have increased across caste distinctions as an honour-saving custom in the face of Muslim advances into the territory. But the practice never gained the prevalence seen in Rajasthan or Bengal, and social customs of actively dissuading a widow from committing ''sati'' are well established. Apparently not a single instance of forced ''sati'' is attested for the 17th and 18th centuries CE. Forced or not forced, there were several instances of women from the Bhosale family committing sati.One was Shivaji's eldest childless widow, Putalabai committing sati after her husband's death.One controversial case was that of Chhatrapati Shahu's widow being forced to commit sati due to political intrigues regarding succession at the Satara court following Shahu's death in 1749.The most "celebrated" case of sati was that of Ramabai, the widow of brahmin Peshwa Madhavrao I
Peshwa Madhavrao Bhat I (February 15, 1745 – November 18, 1772) was the 9th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. During his tenure, the Maratha empire fully recovered from the losses they suffered during the Third Battle of Panipat, a phenomenon kn ...
committing sati in 1772 on her husband's funeral pyre.This was considered unusual because unlike "kshatriya" widows, brahmin widows very rarely followed the practice.
South India
Several sati stones have been found in Vijayanagar empire. These stones were erected as a mark of a heroic deed of sacrifice of the wife and her husband towards the land. The ''sati'' stone evidence from the time of the empire is regarded as relatively rare; only about 50 are clearly identified as such. Thus, Carla M. Sinopoli, citing Verghese, says that despite the attention European travellers paid the phenomenon, it should be regarded as having been fairly uncommon during the time of the Vijayanagara empire.
The Madurai Nayak dynasty (1529–1736 CE) seems to have adopted the custom in larger measure, one Jesuit priest observing in 1609 Madurai the burning of 400 women at the death of Nayak Muttu Krishnappa.
The Kongu Nadu
Kongu Nadu, also known by various names as Kongu Mandalam and Kongu belt, is a geographical region comprising present day parts of western Tamil Nadu, southeastern Karnataka and eastern Kerala. In the ancient Tamilakam, it was the seat of th ...
region of Tamil Nadu has the highest number of Veera Maha Sati (வீரமாசதி) or Veeramathy temples (வீரமாத்தி) from all the native Kongu castes.
A few records exist from the Princely State of Mysore
The Kingdom of Mysore was a realm in southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. From 1799 until 1950, it was a princely state, until 1947 in a subsidiary alliance with Bri ...
, established in 1799, that say permission to commit ''sati'' could be granted. Dewan (prime minister) Purnaiah is said to have allowed it for a Brahmin widow in 1805, whereas an 1827 eye-witness to the burning of a widow in Bangalore
Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...
in 1827 says it was rather uncommon there.
Gangetic plain
In the Upper Gangetic plain, while ''sati'' occurred, there is no indication that it was especially widespread. The earliest known attempt by a government, that of the Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
Sultan, Muhammad ibn Tughluq, to stop this Hindu practice took place in the Delhi Sultanate
The Delhi Sultanate was an Islamic empire based in Delhi that stretched over large parts of the Indian subcontinent for 320 years (1206–1526). in the 14th century.
In the Lower Gangetic plain, the practice may have reached a high level fairly late in history. According to available evidence and the existing reports of occurrences, the greatest incidence of ''sati'' in any region and period, in total numbers, occurred in Bengal and Bihar in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Nepal and Bali
The earliest stone inscription in the Indian subcontinent relating to ''sati'' has been found in Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
, dating from the 5th century, wherein the king successfully persuades his mother not to commit ''sati'' after his father dies. This inscription suggests that ''sati'' was practised but not compulsory. Nepal formally banned ''sati'' in 1920.
On the Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n island of Bali
Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
, ''sati'' (known as ''masatya'') was practised by the aristocracy as late as 1903, until the Dutch colonial masters pushed for its termination, forcing the local Balinese princes to sign treaties containing the prohibition of ''sati'' as one of the clauses.[''A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1300'', by Merle Calvin Ricklefs, ''on forced treaties'', see ] Early Dutch observers of the Balinese custom in the 17th century said that only widows of royal blood were allowed to be burned alive. Concubines or others of inferior blood lines who consented or wanted to die with their princely husband had to be stabbed to death before being burned.
Terminology
Lindsey Harlan, having conducted extensive field work among Rajput
Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...
women, has constructed a model of how and why women who committed ''sati'' are still venerated today, and how the worshippers think about the process involved. Essentially, a woman becomes a ''sati'' in three stages:
# having been a ''pativrata'', or dutiful wife, during her husband's life,
# making, at her husband's death, a solemn vow to burn by his side, thus gaining status as a ''sativrata'', and
# having endured being burnt alive, achieving the status of ''satimata''.
Pativrata
The ''pativrata'' is devoted and subservient to her husband, and also protective of him. If he dies before her, some culpability is attached to her for his death, as not having been sufficiently protective of him. Making the vow to burn alive beside him removes her culpability, as well as enabling her to protect him from new dangers in the afterlife.
Sativrata
In Harlan's model, having made the holy vow to burn herself, the woman becomes a ''sativrata'', a transitional stage between the living and the dead, before ascending the funeral pyre. Once a woman had committed herself to becoming a ''sati'', popular belief thought her endowed with many supernatural powers. Lourens P. Van Den Bosch enumerates some of them: prophecy and clairvoyance, and the ability to bless with sons women who had not borne sons before. The gifts from a ''sati'' were venerated as valuable relics, and in her journey to the pyre, people would seek to touch her garments to benefit from her powers.
Lindsey Harlan probes deeper into the ''sativrata'' stage. As a transitional figure on her path to becoming a powerful family protector as ''satimata'', the ''sativrata'' dictates the terms and obligations the family, in showing reverence to her, must observe in order for her to be able to protect them once she has become satimata. These conditions are generally called ''ok''. A typical example of an ''ok'' is a restriction on the colours or types of clothing the family members may wear.
''Shrap'', or curses, are also within the ''sativratas power, associated with remonstrations on members of the family for how they have failed. One woman cursed her in-laws when they brought neither a horse nor a drummer to her pyre, saying that whenever in future they might have need of either (and many religious rituals require the presence of such a thing), it would not be available to them.
Satimata
After her death on the pyre, the woman is finally transformed into the shape of the ''satimata'', a spiritual embodiment of goodness, with her principal concern being a family protector. Typically, the ''satimata'' manifests in the dreams of family members, for example to teach the women how to be good ''pativratas'', having proved herself through her sacrifice that she was the perfect ''pativrata''. However, although the ''satimatas intentions are always for the good of the family, she is not averse to letting children become sick, for example, or the cows' udders to wither, if she thinks this is an appropriate lesson to the living wife who has neglected her duties as ''pativrata''.
In scriptures
David Brick, in his 2010 review of ancient Indian literature, states
The earliest scholarly discussion of sati, whether it is right or wrong, is found in the Sanskrit literature dated to 10th- to 12th-century. The earliest known commentary on sati by Medhatithi of Kashmir argues that sati is a form of suicide, which is prohibited by the Vedic tradition. Vijnanesvara, of the 12th-century Chalukya
The Chalukya dynasty () was a Classical Indian dynasty that ruled large parts of southern and central India between the 6th and the 12th centuries. During this period, they ruled as three related yet individual dynasties. The earliest dynas ...
court, and the 13th-century Madhvacharya
Madhvacharya (; ; CE 1199-1278 or CE 1238–1317), sometimes Anglicisation, anglicised as Madhva Acharya, and also known as Purna Prajna () and Ānanda Tīrtha, was an Indian philosopher, theologian and the chief proponent of the ''Dvaita'' ...
, argue that sati should not to be considered suicide, which was otherwise variously banned or discouraged in the scriptures. They offer a combination of reasons, both in favour and against sati.
In the following, a historical chronology is given of the debate within Hinduism on the topic of ''sati''.
The oldest Vedic texts
The most ancient texts still revered among Hindus today are the Vedas
upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''.
The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
, where the ''Saṃhitās'' are the most ancient, four collections roughly dated in their composition to 1700–1100 BCE. In two of these collections, the Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Sh ...
and the Atharvaveda
The Atharva Veda (, ' from ' and ''veda'', meaning "knowledge") is the "knowledge storehouse of ''atharvāṇas'', the procedures for everyday life".Laurie Patton (2004), Veda and Upanishad, in ''The Hindu World'' (Editors: Sushil Mittal and G ...
there is material relevant to the discussion of ''sati''.
Claims about the mention of sati in Rig Veda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Sh ...
vary. There are differing interpretations of one of the passages which reads:
: इमा नारीरविधवाः सुपत्नीराञ्जनेन सर्पिषा संविशन्तु ,
:अनश्रवो.अनमीवाः सुरत्ना आ रोहन्तु जनयोयोनिमग्रे , , (RV 10.18.7)
This passage and especially the last of these words has been interpreted in different ways, as can be seen from various English translations:
:''May these women, who are not widows, who have good husbands, who are mothers, enter with unguents and clarified butter:''
:''without tears, without sorrow, let them first go up into the dwelling.'' (Wilson, 1856)
:''Let these women, whose husbands are worthy and are living, enter the house with ghee
Ghee is a type of clarified butter, originating from India. It is commonly used in India for cooking, as a traditional medicine, and for religious rituals.
Description
Ghee is typically prepared by simmering butter, which is churned from c ...
(applied) as collyrium In eye care, collyrium is an antique term for a lotion or liquid wash used as a cleanser for the eyes, particularly in diseases of the eye. The word ''collyrium'' comes from the Greek , eye-salve. The same name was also given to unguents used for ...
(to their eyes).''
:''Let these wives first step into the pyre, tearless without any affliction and well adorned.''[ 3.1 Women in Indo-Aryan Societies:Sati](_blank)
this translation is ascribed to Kane, pp. 199–200 (Kane, 1941)
Verse 7 itself, unlike verse 8, does not mention widowhood, but the meaning of the syllables ''yoni
''Yoni'' (; sometimes also ), sometimes called ''pindika'', is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu goddess Shakti. It is usually shown with ''linga'' – its masculine counterpart. Together, they symbolize the merging of microc ...
'' (literally "seat, abode") have been rendered as "go up into the ''dwelling''" (by Wilson
Wilson may refer to:
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* Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...
), as "step into the ''pyre''" (by Kane), as "mount the ''womb''" (by Jamison/Brereton) and as "go up to ''where he lieth''" (by Griffith
Griffith may refer to:
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* Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency
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* Griffith Rid ...
). A reason given for the discrepancy in translation and interpretation of verse 10.18.7, is that one consonant in a word that meant house, ''yonim agree'' ("foremost to the ''yoni''"), was deliberately changed by those who wished claim scriptural justification, to a word that meant fire, ''yomiagne''.
In addition, the following verse, which is unambiguously about widows, contradicts any suggestion of the woman's death; it explicitly states that the widow should return to her house.
:उदीर्ष्व नार्यभि जीवलोकं गतासुमेतमुप शेष एहि ,
:हस्तग्राभस्य दिधिषोस्तवेदं पत्युर्जनित्वमभि सम्बभूथ , , (RV 10.18.8)
:''Rise, come unto the world of life, O woman — come, he is lifeless by whose side thou liest. Wifehood with this thy husband was thy portion, who took thy hand and wooed thee as a lover.''
Dehejia states that Vedic literature has no mention of any practice resembling Sati. There is only one mention in the Vedas, of a widow lying down beside her dead husband who is asked to leave the grieving and return to the living, then prayer is offered for a happy life for her with children and wealth. Dehejia writes that this passage does not imply a pre-existing sati custom, nor of widow remarriage, nor that it is authentic verse because its solitary mention may also be explained as a later date insertion into the text. Dehejia writes that no ancient or early medieval era Buddhist texts mention sati, and if the practice existed it would likely have been condemned by these texts.
1st-millennium BCE texts
Absence in religious texts
David Brick, a professor of South Asian Studies, states that neither ''sati'' nor equivalent terms such as ''sahagamana'' are ever mentioned in any Vedic literature (Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas, Upanishads), or in any of the early Dharmasutras or Dharmasastras.
The Brahmana
The Brahmanas (; Sanskrit: , ''Brāhmaṇam'') are Vedic śruti works attached to the Samhitas (hymns and mantras) of the Rig, Sama, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas. They are a secondary layer or classification of Sanskrit texts embedded within ea ...
literature, one of the layers within the ancient Vedic texts, dated about 1000 BCE – 500 BCE are entirely silent about ''sati'' according to the historian Altekar. Similarly, the Grhyasutras, a body of text devoted to ritual, with composition date about the time of the youngest within Brahmana literature, ''sati'' is not mentioned, either. What is mentioned concerning funeral rites, though, is that the widow is to be brought back from her husband's funeral pyre, either by his brother, or by a trusted servant. In the Taittiriya Aranyaka from about the same time, it is said that when leaving, the widow took from her husband's side such objects as his bow, gold and jewels (which previously would have been burnt with him), and a hope expressed that the widow and her relatives would lead a happy and prosperous life afterwards. According to Altekar, it is "clear" that the custom of actual widow burning had died out a long time previously at this stage.
Nor is the practice of ''sati'' mentioned anywhere in the Dharmasutras, texts tentatively dated by Pandurang Vaman Kane
Pandurang Vaman Kane (pronounced ''Kaa-nay'') (7 May 1880 – 18 April 1972) was a notable Indologist and Sanskrit scholar. He received India's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in 1963 for his scholarly work that spanned more than 40 years ...
to 600–100 BCE, while Patrick Olivelle
Patrick Olivelle is an Indologist. A philologist and scholar of Sanskrit Literature whose work has focused on asceticism, renunciation and the dharma, Olivelle has been Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions in the Department of Asian Studi ...
thinks the bounds should be roughly 250–100 BCE instead.
Not only is sati not mentioned in Brahmana and early Dharmasastra literature, Satapatha Brahmana explains that suicide by anyone is inappropriate (adharmic). This Śruti
''Shruti'' ( sa, श्रुति, , ) in Sanskrit means "that which is heard" and refers to the body of most authoritative, ancient religious texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism. Manusmriti states: ''Śrutistu vedo vijñeyaḥ'' ( ...
prohibition became one of the several basis for arguments presented against sati by 11th- to 14th-century Hindu scholars such as Medhatithi of Kashmir,
:''Therefore, one should not depart before one's natural lifespan.'' – Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, 10.2.6.7
Thus, in none of the principal religious texts believed composed before the Common Era is there any evidence at all for a sanctioning of the practice of ''sati''. It is wholly unmentioned, although the archaic Atharvaveda do contain hints of a funeral practice of ''symbolic'' sati. In addition, the twelfth-century CE commentary of Apararka, claiming to quote the Dharmasutra text Apastamba, it says that the Apastamba prescribes that if a widow has made a vow of burning herself (anvahorana, "ascend the pyre"), but then ''retracts'' her vow, she must expiate her sin by the penance ritual called ''Prajapatya-vrata''
Justifications for the practice are given in the ''Vishnu Smriti
Vishnu Smriti (IAST: ) is one of the latest books of the Dharmaśāstra tradition in Hinduism and the only one which does not deal directly with the means of knowing dharma. The text has a strong bhakti orientation, requiring daily puja to the g ...
'', dated 6th-9th century CE by Patrick Olivelle
Patrick Olivelle is an Indologist. A philologist and scholar of Sanskrit Literature whose work has focused on asceticism, renunciation and the dharma, Olivelle has been Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions in the Department of Asian Studi ...
:
:''When a woman's husband has died, she should either practice ascetic celibacy or ascend (the funeral pyre) after him.'' — Vishnu Smriti, 25.14
Valmiki Ramayana
The oldest portion of the epic Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
, the Valmiki Ramayana, is tentatively dated for its composition by Robert P. Goldman to 750–500 BCE. Anant S. Altekar says that no instances of ''sati'' occur in this earliest, archaic part of the whole Ramayana.
According to Ramashraya Sharma, there is no conclusive evidence of the sati practice in the Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th ...
. For instance, Tara, Mandodari
Mandodari ( sa, मंदोदरी, , lit. "soft-bellied";) was the queen consort of Ravana, the king of Lanka, according to the Hindu epic ''Ramayana''. The ''Ramayana'' describes Mandodari as beautiful, pious, and righteous. She is extoll ...
and the widows of Ravana
Ravana (; , , ) is a rakshasa king of the island of Lanka, and the chief antagonist of the Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' and its adaptations.
In the ''Ramayana'', Ravana is described to be the eldest son of sage Vishrava and rakshasi Kaikesi. He a ...
, all live after their respective husband's deaths, though all of them announce their wish to die, while lamenting for their husbands. The first two remarry their brother-in-law. The only instance of sati appears in the ''Uttara Kanda'' – believed to be a later addition to the original text – in which Kushadhwaja
Kushadhvaja (IAST: Kuśadhvaja) is a king in the Ramayana, the younger brother of King Janaka of Mithila. Kushadhvaja's two daughters, Mandavi and Shrutakirti, were married to Rama's younger brothers, Bharata and Shatrughna, respectively.
Wh ...
's wife performs sati. The Telugu adaptation of the Ramayana, the 14th-century Ranganatha Ramayana, tells that Sulochana, wife of Indrajit
Meghanada (), also referred to by his epithet Indrajita , according to Hindu texts, was the crown prince of Lanka, who conquered Indraloka (Heaven). He is regarded as one of the greatest warriors in Hindu texts. He is a major character mentio ...
, became sati on his funeral pyre.
Mahabharata
Instances of ''sati'' are found in the Mahabharata.
Madri, the second wife of Pandu
In the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata'', Pandu ( sa, पाण्डु, Pāṇḍu, pale) was a king of the Kuru Kingdom. He was the foster-father of the five Pandava brothers, who were the boons bestowed upon his wife Kunti by a number of deities ...
, immolates herself. She believes she is responsible for his death, as he had been cursed with death if he ever had intercourse. He died while performing the forbidden act with Madri; she blamed herself for not rejecting him, as she knew of the curse. Also, in the case of Madri the entire assembly of sages sought to dissuade her from the act, and no religious merit is attached to the fate she chooses against all advice. In the Musala-parvan of the Mahabharata, the four wives of Vasudeva
According to Hindu scriptures, Vasudeva (Sanskrit: वसुदेव, IAST: ''Vasudeva''), also called Anakadundubhi, (''anakas'' and ''dundubhis'' both refer to ''drums'', after the musicians who played these instruments at the time of his b ...
are said to commit ''sati''. Furthermore, as news of Krishna's death reaches Hastinapur
Hastinapur is a city in the Meerut district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. ''Hastinapura'', described in Hindu texts such as the ''Mahabharata'' and the Puranas as the capital of the Kuru Kingdom, is also mentioned in ancient Jain tex ...
, five of his wives ascended the funeral pyre.
Against these stray examples within the Mahabharata of ''sati'', there are scores of instances in the same epic of widows who do not commit sati, none of them blamed for not doing so.
Principal Smrtis, c. 200 BCE–1200 CE
The four works, (200 BCE–200 CE), (200–500 CE), (100 BCE–400 CE) and the (700–1000 CE) are the principal Smrti
''Smriti'' ( sa, स्मृति, IAST: '), literally "that which is remembered" are a body of Hindu texts usually attributed to an author, traditionally written down, in contrast to Śrutis (the Vedic literature) considered authorless, that ...
works in the Dharmaśāstra
''Dharmaśāstra'' ( sa, धर्मशास्त्र) is a genre of Sanskrit texts on law and conduct, and refers to the treatises (shastras, śāstras) on dharma. Unlike Dharmasūtra which are based upon Vedas, these texts are mainly b ...
tradition, along with the Parasara Smrti, composed in the latter period, rather than in the earlier.
The first three principal smrtis, those of Manu, Yājñavalkya and Nārada, do not contain any mention of sati.
Emergence of debate on sati, 700–1200 CE
Moriz Winternitz
Moriz Winternitz (Horn, Austria, Horn, December 23, 1863 – Prague, January 9, 1937) was a scholar from Austria who began his Indology contributions working with Max Müller at the Oxford University. An eminent Sanskrit scholar, he worked as ...
states that Brihaspati Smriti prohibits burning of widows. Brihaspati Smriti was authored after the three principal smritis of Manu, Yājñavalkya and Nārada.[
Passages of the Parasara Smriti say:
:''If a woman adheres to a vow of ascetic celibacy (]brahmacarya
''Brahmacharya'' (; sa, ब्रह्मचर्य ) is a concept within Indian religions that literally means to stay in conduct within one's own Self. In Yoga, Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism it generally refers to a lifestyle charact ...
) after her husband has died, then when she dies, she obtains heaven, just like those who were celibate. Further, three and a half krores or however many hairs are on a human body – for that long a time (in years) a woman who follows her husband (in death) shall dwell in heaven.'' — Parasara Smriti, 4.29–31
Neither of these suggest sati as mandatory, but Parasara Smriti elaborates the benefits of sati in greater detail.
Within the dharmashastric tradition espousing ''sati'' as a justified, and even recommended, option to ascetic widowhood, there remained a curious conception worth noting the achieved status for a woman committing ''sati''. Burning herself on the pyre would give her, and her husband, automatic, but not eternal, reception into heaven (svarga
Svarga (), also known as Indraloka and Svargaloka, is the celestial abode of the devas in Hinduism. Svarga is one of the seven higher lokas ( esoteric planes) in Hindu cosmology. Svarga is often translated as heaven, though it is regarded to b ...
), whereas only the wholly chaste widow living out her natural life span could hope for final liberation (moksha
''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriology, ...
) and breaking the cycle of rebirth. Thus, acknowledging that performing ''sati'' only achieved an inferior otherworldy status than successful widowhood could achieve, ''sati'' became recommended when coupled with a dismissal of the effective possibility for a widow to remain truly chaste.
While some smriti passages allow sati as optional, others forbid the practice entirely. Vijñāneśvara
Vijnaneshwara was a prominent jurist of twelfth century India. His treatise, the '' Mitakshara,'' dealt with inheritance, and is one of the most influential legal treatises in Hindu law. Mitakshara is the treatise on Yājñavalkya Smṛti, named ...
(c. 1076–1127), an early Dharmaśāstric scholar, claims that many smriti call for the prohibition of sati among Brahmin widows, but not among other social castes. Vijñāneśvara, quoting scriptures from Paithinasi and Angiras to support his argument, states:
:Due to Vedic injunction, a Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (guru ...
woman should not follow her husband in death, but for the other social classes, tradition holds this to be the supreme Law of Women... when a woman of Brahmin caste follows her husband in death, by killing herself she leaders neither herself nor her husband to heaven.
However, as proof of the contradictory opinion of the smriti on sati, in his Mitākṣarā
The is a ' (legal commentary) on the Yajnavalkya Smriti best known for its theory of "inheritance by birth." It was written by Vijñāneśvara, a scholar in the Western Chalukya court in the late eleventh and early twelfth century.. Along with t ...
, Vijñāneśvara argues Brahmin women are technically only forbidden from performing sati on pyres other than those of their deceased husbands. Quoting the Yājñavalkya Smṛti, Vijñāneśvara states, "a Brahmin woman ought not to depart by ascending a separate pyre." David Brick states that the Brahmin sati commentary suggests that the practice may have originated in the warrior and ruling class of medieval Indian society. In addition to providing arguments in support of sati, Vijñāneśvara offers arguments against the ritual.
Those who supported the ritual, did however, put restrictions on sati. It was considered wrong for women who had young children to care for, those who were pregnant or menstruating. A woman who had doubts or did not wish to commit sati at the last moment, could be removed from the pyre by a man, usually a brother of the deceased or someone from her husband's side of the family.
David Brick, summarizing the historical evolution of scholarly debate on sati in medieval India, states:
Legend of goddess Sati
Although the myth of the goddess Sati is that of a wife who dies by her own volition on a fire, this is not a case of the practice of ''sati''. The goddess was not widowed, and the myth is quite unconnected with the justifications for the practice.
Justifications for involuntary sati
Julia Leslie points to an 18th-century CE text on the duties of the wife by Tryambakayajvan that contains statements she regards as evidence for a sub-tradition of justifying strongly encouraged, pressured, or even forced ''sati''. Although the standard view of the sati within the justifying tradition is that of the woman who out of moral heroism chooses sati, rather than choosing to enter ascetic widowhood. Tryambaka is quite clear upon the automatic good effect of sati for the woman who was a 'bad' wife:
Thus, as Leslie puts it, becoming (or being pressured into the role of) a ''sati'' was, within ''Tryambaka'' thinking, the only truly effective method of atonement for the bad wife.
Exegesis scholarship against sati
Opposition to sati was expressed by several exegesis scholars such as the ninth- or tenth-century Kashmir scholar Medatithi – who offers the earliest known explicit discussion of sati, the 12th- to 17th-century scholars Vijnanesvara, Apararka and Devanadhatta, as well as the mystical Tantric tradition, with its valorisation of the feminine principle.
Explicit criticisms were published by Medhatithi, a commentator on various theological works. He offered two arguments for his opposition. He considered sati a form of suicide, which was forbidden by the Vedas: "One shall not die before the span of one's life is run out." Medhatithi offered a second reason against sati, calling it against dharma
Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...
(''adharma''). He argued that there is a general prohibition against violence of any form against living beings in the Vedic dharma tradition, sati causes death which is sufficient proof of violence, and thus sati is against Vedic teachings.
Vijnanesvara presents both sides of the argument, for and against sati. He argues first that Vedas do not prohibit sacrifice aimed to stop an enemy and in pursuit of heaven, and sati for these reasons is thus not prohibited. He then presents two arguments against sati, calling it "unobjectionable". The first is based on hymn 10.2.6.7 of Satapatha Brahmana will forbids suicide. His second reason against sati is an appeal to relative merit between two choices. Death may grant a woman's wish to enter heaven with her dead husband, but living offers her the possibility of reaching moksha
''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriology, ...
through knowledge of the Self through learning, reflecting and meditating. In Vedic tradition, moksha is of higher merit than heaven, because moksha leads to eternal, unsurpassed bliss while heaven is impermanent and smaller happiness. Living gives her an option to discover deeper, fulfilling happiness than dying through sati does, according to Vijnanesvara.
Apararka acknowledges that Vedic scripture prohibits violence against living beings and "one should not kill"; however, he argues that this rule prohibits violence against another person, but does not prohibit killing oneself if one wants to. Thus sati is a woman's choice and it is not prohibited by Vedic tradition, argues Apararka.
Counter-arguments within Hinduism
Reform and bhakti
''Bhakti'' ( sa, भक्ति) literally means "attachment, participation, fondness for, homage, faith, love, devotion, worship, purity".See Monier-Williams, ''Sanskrit Dictionary'', 1899. It was originally used in Hinduism, referring to d ...
movements within Hinduism favoured egalitarian societies, and in line with the tenor of these beliefs, generally condemned the practice, sometimes explicitly. The 12th-century Virashaiva
Lingayatism or Veera Saivism is a Hindu denomination based on Shaivism. Initially known as ''Veerashaivas'', since the 12th-century adherents of this faith are known as ''Lingayats''. The terms ''Lingayatism'' and '' Veerashaivism'' have been ...
movement condemned the practice. Later, Sahajananda Swami, the founder of Vaishnavite
Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as the ...
Swaminarayana sampradaya preached against sati in the 18th century in western India.
In a petition to the East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
in 1818, Ram Mohan Roy wrote that: "All these instances are murders according to every shastra."
In culture
European artists in the eighteenth century produced many images for their own native markets, showing the widows as heroic women, and moral exemplars.
In Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne (;''Longman Pronunciation Dictionary''. ; 8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French novelist, poet, and playwright. His collaboration with the publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel led to the creation of the ''Voyages extraor ...
's novel ''Around the World in Eighty Days
''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe ...
'', Phileas Fogg rescues Princess Aouda from forced sati.
In her article " Can the Subaltern Speak?", Indian philosopher Gayatri Spivak
Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (born 24 February 1942) is an Indian scholar, literary theorist, and feminist critic. She is a University Professor at Columbia University and a founding member of the establishment's Institute for Comparative Lite ...
discussed the history of sati during the colonial era and how the practise took the form of imprisoning women in India in a double bind
A double bind is a dilemma in communication in which an individual (or group) receives two or more reciprocally conflicting messages. In some scenarios (e.g. within families or romantic relationships) this can be emotionally distressing, creating ...
of self-expression attributed to mental illness
A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...
and social rejection, or of self-incrimination according to colonial legislation. The woman who commits sati takes the form of the subaltern
Subaltern may refer to:
*Subaltern (postcolonialism), colonial populations who are outside the hierarchy of power
* Subaltern (military), a primarily British and Commonwealth military term for a junior officer
* Subalternation, going from a univer ...
in Spivak's work, a form much of postcolonial
Postcolonialism is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic legacy of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and exploitation of colonized people and their lands. More specifically, it is a ...
studies takes very seriously.
The 2005 novel '' The Ashram'' by Indian writer Sattar Memon, deals with the plight of an oppressed young woman in India, under pressure to commit suttee and the endeavours of a western spiritual aspirant to save her.
In Krishna Dharabasi's Nepali novel ''Jhola'', a young widow narrowly escapes self immolation. The novel was later adapted into a movie titled after the book.
Amitav Ghosh’s ''Sea of Poppies'' (2008) represents the practice of sati in Gazipur city in the state of Uttar Pradesh and reflects the feelings and experience of a young woman named 'Deeti' who escaped sati as her family and relatives were forcing her to do sati after her old husband died.
See also
* Jauhar
* Self-immolation
* Ritual suicide
A suicide method is any means by which a person chooses to end their life. Suicide attempts do not always result in death, and a nonfatal suicide attempt can leave the person with serious physical injuries, long-term health problems, and brai ...
* Deorala
* Thalaikoothal
Thalaikoothal ( ta, தலைக்கூத்தல், lit. showering) is the traditional practice of senicide (killing of the elderly) or involuntary euthanasia, by their own family members, observed in some parts of southern districts of Tam ...
* Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. The Witch trials in the early modern period, classical period of witch-hunts in Early Modern Europe and European Colon ...
Notes
References
Sources
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*
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*
*
*
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* Mani, L. (1987). Contentious traditions: the debate on sati in colonial India. Cultural Critique, (7), 119–156.
* Mani, L. (1998). Contentious traditions: The debate on sati in colonial India. University of California Press.
* Meenakshi Jain
Meenakshi Jain is an Indian political scientist and historian who served as an associate professor of history at Gargi College, Delhi. In 2014, she was nominated as a member of the Indian Council of Historical Research by the Government of India ...
(2016). Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse, Aryan Books International.
*
*
* Sangari, K., & Vaid, S. (1981). Sati in Modern India: a report. Economic and Political Weekly, 1284–1288.
*
*
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*
*
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* Zechenter, E. M. (1997). In the name of culture: Cultural relativism and the abuse of the individual. Journal of Anthropological Research, 319–347.
External links
Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987
Official text of the Act on Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...
's National Resource Centre for Women (NCRW)
* Maja Daruwala
A History of Sati Legislation in India
, People's Union for Civil Liberties.
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sati (Practice)
Violence against women in Asia
Death customs
Fire in religion
Suicide methods
Superstitions of India
Women's rights in religious movements
Widowhood in India
Hindu rituals related to death
Suicide in India
Gender and Hinduism
Femicide
Violence against women in India
Women and death
Indo-European culture
Human sacrifice
Traditions involving fire
Criticism of Hinduism
Suicide in Nepal
Violence against women in Nepal