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The Practice of Sati Sati, also known as suttee, is the Hindu funeral practice in which a widowed woman immolates herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. There are a number of different theories about the origins of sati. Most commonly it is believed to have begun in Hindu mythology, and the first ‘widow burnings’ occurred as early as AD500. By the tenth century, sati was taking place in specific regions and continued with regularity until the early nineteenth century. Sati was not a custom adopted across the whole subcontinent; it was more dominant among communities in north India, especially Rajasthan, and also among the higher castes in Bengal, in east India. The general consensus is that sati did not occur because of religious beliefs, but as a result of social pressures. Some communities may have simply expected the widow to commit sati. While it appears that the act was usually voluntary, there are also reports indicating some widows were tied on to the pyre to prevent them from escaping after the fire was lit. A widow who died on her husband’s pyre was seen as highly virtuous, and there were various beliefs as to what this act signified. But in all cases it was understood that the widow would go directly to heaven and join her husband, redeeming many of the sins of their forefathers. Usually the families of women who committed sati were given a great deal of respect and some believed that by sacrificing herself in this way, the widow blessed her family for seven future generations. The actual act was tied in with a number of recorded rituals. There were detailed instructions for cleansing prior to sati, positioning on the pyre, and attire. Most often the widow dressed in her wedding finery, as her death was sometimes viewed as the culmination of the marriage. In spite of the funereal content – the cremation of the dead husband – the idea of this second, very public death, obviously had a powerful influence over the masses. A sati was far from a private mourning. The ceremony itself was a highly attended event, with the whole village or community and even those from much further away coming to witness the spectacle. The sati, if voluntary, could be a reverent ceremony, and the observers sometimes chanted, sang and prayed as the flames consumed the pyre. Most onlookers respectfully stayed until the very end, when the smoke had cleared and only the charred remains of the husband and wife were visible. The event was probably not as calm when the wife was forced into sati by her husband’s family. Since most girls in India’s history were married when barely adolescent, some found themselves widows while still in their teens, and these satis would surely have been the most difficult to witness. It’s all too easy to imagine the terror and disbelief of the girls, who had left their childhood homes only a few years earlier, facing the prospect of such a horrendous and painful death. Of course, since the home of their husband and his parents became their home after marriage, and they were no longer allowed the support of their own parents, it was the in-laws who dictated the future of these young widows. If they had redeemed themselves by providing one or more sons to the family, their fate might have sometimes been less harsh, and they were allowed some measure of dignity within the dead husband’s family. Many would argue, however, that some of these women would have preferred a respected, if untimely, death over the cursed life of a widow, as throughout the history of India remarriage was not possible. Some of the widows, especially if very young and childless, faced a lifetime of loneliness, poverty and hardship. Indian widows were allowed to wear only white, had to keep their heads shaven, and received little respect. These childless women might be delegated as servants for the family, and in these cases would spend the rest of their years carrying out the lowliest jobs, being beaten and humiliated, and denied even the smallest dignities. It’s not difficult to understand why some women chose a planned and honoured death over such a life. Because most believed that the sacrificed women were worthy of worship, hero-stones – called by a range of Indian names in different states of India – were sometimes erected in their memory. This glorification was encouraged by pilgrimages to the shrines as well as to the site of the pyre. But while sati was viewed as a highly honourable death by Hindus, it was horrifying to European sensibilities. For centuries there was an attempt to abolish the practice; the British in particular were adamant that the suicides be prevented. As early as 1798 the first formal British ban was seen in Calcutta. Later, Indian reformers also spoke out on it, some writing articles that argued it was not required by scripture. And yet it continued on; while the last state to permit it, Jaipur, banned the practice in 1846, in more recent years there have been reported incidents. The last highly publicised sati was in 1987, but immediately following the young woman’s death the Indian government passed the Commission of Sati Prevention Act, which stated that coercing or forcing a widow to commit sati would be punishable by death or life imprisonment. To learn more about Linda, visit her website www.lindaholeman.com |
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