From: gauri@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Gauri Pavate)
Subject: Sati (repost)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 17:43:36 GMT


	I'm reposting an article that I had put up on
SCI some months ago during another discussion on sati. 

						Gauri.
---------------------------------------------------------------


	It is true that Hindu scriptures don't form one body
and there are no commandments as such.  But it is also true
that certain Hindu religious texts did advocate Sati and this
provided sanction and legitamacy for this practice among certain
groups of Hindus.

	According to A.S. Altekar in "The Position of Women in
Hindu Civilization", references to Sati in Hindu classical
texts can be traced back to 300 B.C..  The most famous of these 
satis have already been mentioned in earlier posts--i.e. those
of Maadri, Devaki, Bhadra, Rohini, Madira etc.  But there is no
advocation of sati for widows during this time.  In fact, in the 
case of Maadri's sati (in Mahabharat), the rishis are supposed 
to have tried dissuading her.

	Sati seems to have been first 'recommended' in Vishnusmriti
(around 100 A.D.).  It is believed, however, that upto 700 A.D. 
Smriti writers who mention Sati recommended it only as one of the 
alternatives for widows, upholding an ascetic life as preferrable.

	Altekar argues that Sati was really a medieval Hindu 
practice and that is only from around 700 A.D. onwards that 
writers such as Angiras and Harita began to strongly advocate 
Sati as the only/best religious way for widows.  In favor of his 
arguement, Altekar points out that detailed descriptions of the
ritual of Sati appear only in the late Puranas and in digests
like Nirnaysindhu and Dharmasindhu, which were written
sometime in the 17th century.  These writers extolled the
virtue of Sati and the idea that the wife could purify her
husband from the worst sins and hell if she died with his remains.

	Sati initially seems to have been confined to Kshatriyas
and forbidden for Brahmins.  Post-1000 A.D., however, this
practice was advocated among Brahmins as well.  It seems
to have been practiced among royals as well as non-royals.
Sati stones discovered show that women belonged to as diverse
castes as masons, weavers, barbers etc.  And among royals,
the custom was several satis at the death of a king--e.g.,
when Raja Ajitsingh of Marwar died in 1724, 64 satis occurred
at his funeral pyre; and in the case of Raja Budhsingh of 
Bundi there were 84 satis.

	It is difficult to really know how widespread Sati
was.  The heavy areas for this practice seem to have been
Kashmir, Bengal, and Rajputana.  In Bengal Presidency, during  
the years 1815-1828, 8134 cases were officially reported, averaging
about 580 per year.  Of the cases between 1815-1820, three involved 
eight-year old girls and 43 involved girls between nine and sixteen.
Among 839 cases recorded in 1818, 49 were under twenty
and 122 were between twenty and thirty.  And in 1823, out
of 575 cases, 32 were under twenty and 208 were between twenty
and forty.  Also in 1823 close to half the women who became
sati were Brahmin (Kapadia, "Marriage and Family in India").

	Its possible that more meticulous records were kept in 
Bengal than elsewhere.  At any rate the incidence of Sati according
to government records seem to have been relatively lower in other 
parts of India.  The average number of satis recorded in Bombay and
Madras Presidencies were below 50 per year.  In the Poona area
the annual average was 12 between 1800-12.  And in the eighteen
months preceeding 1817, 24 cases were officially recorded in
Tanjore.

	As for the reasons why this terrible practice was found
in medieval India--a large part is the steady devaluation of women 
and the ideology of 'pativrata' taken to its extreme--the notion that
a woman's life has no independent value beyond her husband's.

	The other reason seems to have been the attempt
to retain property exclusively in male hands.  Both the
great law schools of the 12th century, Mitakshara and Dayabhaga,
recognized inheritance rights (though limited) of widows.
The more liberal Dayabhaga system (practiced only in
Bengal and Bihar) allowed a widow to use the income of the
husband's family property as she wished until her death, though
she had no rights to sell or alienate land or property. 
Ironically enough, the provision of these liberal
laws may very well have provided grounds to advocate sati,
since male owners of the joint property stood to gain if
the widow were to die.  Probably this forms part of the
explanation for the higher number of sati cases in Bengal.

	Sati (unlike Johar) does not seem to have had anything
to do with Muslim rule.  Infact Akbar is known to have
appointed inspectors to see that no forcible satis were
allowed.  As a result, satis are supposed to have become
rare in areas near and around Agra.

	Sati was made illegal and banned in 1829 after a
very influential crusade by Raja Ram Mohun Roy (in whose
own family there had been a sati incident) and other
reformist Hindus.  The 1829 Prevention of Sati Act
passed by Lord William Bentinck declared the burning 
alive of widows as murder.

					Gauri.

p.s.  I found it interesting to read that while the British
were expressing horror over sati in India, the medieval
Christian practice of 'witch' burning was to be found in Europe
well into the 18th century.
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