Organization: University of Illinois at Chicago
Date: Wednesday, 19 Aug 1992 11:51:06 CDT
From: Shyamala Parameswaran <U11983@uicvm.uic.edu>
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian
Subject: Re: why satti is practiced
 <1992Aug17.234059.20980@cs.wayne.edu> <1992Aug18.043410.9328@tamsun.tamu.edu>
 <1992Aug18.222610.16288@cs.wayne.edu>

>You still havent told me why sati is bad, which is waht you
>mentioned in your original posting.  In choice # 3, the
>woman, is joining her husband either in heaven, or in the
>next of the series of 7 lives, that a loving wife and husband
>are supposed to live together.
>

Nothing that I have read so far (sources below) indicates to me
that the "noble" element of sati was what motivated women to do
sati, at least in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Indeed, sati derived from 'sat' -- being true to her ideals --
was in the original term used differently, NOT, as it has now
come to mean: widow burning. In the upholding of 'pativrata' as
the highest ideal for women [ note: there was no patnivrata ],
original Sati of mythology did NOT immolate herself on her
husband's pyre. The story goes: Daughter of Daksha - the son
of Brahma, Sati married Shiva. Daksha, not enamoured with
his son-in-law, did not invite him to a grand sacrificial
ceremony but invited everyone else. Sati unable to bear this
insult to her husband, invoked a yogic fire and reduced herself
to ashes, on a prayer of being reborn as Parvati, Shiva's consort.

Well, that's as far as mythology goes. The story received
twists and turns as examples of 'wifely devotion' and that
womanly immolation deserves honor. Then there are several _other_
examples of women who did NOT immolate themselves, and were YET
popularized as sati. These are: (Sati) Savitri, Arundhati (who
became a celestial star, and is gazed on eulogistically during
marriage rites) and Anusuya. There is also a story of the other
sati as virtuous, chaste woman whose connubial dedication made
her carry her leper-stricken husband to prostitutes, when he so
desired.

Gauri has already mentioned the cases of Maadri, Devaki, Bhadra,
Rohini etc., as examples of sati that were NOT advocated in
widowhood. She also traces how and when the immolation of widows
began. More can be added to this historical construct -- I suggest
some analytical reading be done here. Gauri also explained how
sati, so widely prevalent in eighteenth-nineteenth century Bengal,
was to some measure due to the Dayabagha system of inheritance.
That is, ironically, at a time when Bengal was enlightened enough
to confer property rights of succession on widowed women.

In contrast, Rajasthan, another high-incidence state for sati,
and child-marriages, followed the practice under the Mitakshara
system where women had no rights to property, just basic maintenance.
Reasons for advocating sati are obvious here.

Surprisingly, Rajasthan was very feudal and steeped in superstition
whereas Bengal was the precursor to the cultural rennaisance, but
both viewed women as shakti, grihasthinis and deities.

Some eye-witness accounts run as follows:

...men with their swords took their positions at the four corners
of the pyre, and after the wood was set alight hacked the cords
which supported a canopy of faggots over the pile so that it fell on
to the woman and smothered her. The woman's shrieks were heard, in
response to which the priests chanted, "Narayana..Nayayana."

****
In Gwalior, a widow escaped from the fire; the spectators struck
her with sticks and when she hid among the reeds by the riverside,
they dragged her out and drowned her. This was in 1860.

****
Women were not merely persuaded to commit sati. They were also
physically coerced into immolating themselves. There are numerous
examples of women being led trembling and weeping, forced on to
the pyre after their hands and feet were bound, held down with
bamboo poles, or else weighted with heavy logs of wood..
Women were also drugged. One widow who managed to escape from
the pyre testified to being drugged with bhang and opium (Lata Mani).

****

There are numerous other accounts. By different authors. Guess
which way the wind blows.

My questions: do you have evidence that sati was "voluntary"
since elsewhere you claim sati to be a good practice?

Would you, if we reinterpreted the various texts today, be
a willing other half for immolation, should you outlive your
partner? After all, bharthas are duty-bound in chastity, love,
etc. as one may infer from your statements.

Sources:

Altekar, A. S.  Position of Women in Hindu Civilization.

Lata Mani  Cultural Theory, Colonial texts: Reading Eyewitness
           Accounts of Widow Burning in Cultural Studies by
           Grossberg et al., (eds.).

           Contentious Traditions in Recasting Women: Essays
           in Colonial History bu Sangari and Vaid (eds.)

Datta, V. N. Sati: A Historical, Social and Philosophical
           Enquiry into the Hindi rite of Widow Burning.

Narasimhan S. Sati: Widow Burning in India.