Life in India: The Practice of Sati or Widow Burning - Kashgar Tribal Artifacts - Life for the Modern Nomad | Handmade Jewellery, ethnic handicrafts, antique furniture Kashgar Tribal Artifacts - Life for the Modern Nomad | Handmade Jewellery, ethnic handicrafts, antique furniture Life in India: The Practice of Sati or Widow Burning Added over 6 years ago By Linda Heaphy, BSc PhD Suttee by James Atkinson, 1831 (India Office Collection of the British Library (c) British Library Board 2009) In this age of ascending feminism and focus on equality and human rights, it is difficult to assimilate the Hindu practice of sati, the burning to death of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre, into our modern world. Indeed, the practice is outlawed and illegal in today's India, yet it occurs up to the present day and is still regarded by some Hindus as the ultimate form of womanly devotion and sacrifice. Sati (also called suttee) is the practice among some Hindu communities by which a recently widowed woman either voluntarily or by use of force or coercion commits suicide as a result of her husband's death.

The best known form of sati is when a woman burns to death on her husband's funeral pyre. However other forms of sati exist, including being buried alive with the husband's corpse and drowning. The term Sati is derived from the original name of the goddess Sati, also known as Dakshayani, who self-immolated because she was unable to bear her father Daksha's humiliation of her (living) husband Shiva. Sati as practice is first mentioned in 510 CCE, when a stele commemorating such an incident was erected at Eran, an ancient city in the modern state of Madhya Pradesh. The custom began to grow in popularity as evidenced by the number of stones placed to commemorate satis, particularly in southern India and amongst the higher castes of Indian society, despite the fact that the Brahmins originally condemned the practice (Auboyer 2002). Over the centuries the custom died out in the south only to become prevalent in the north, particularly in the states of Rajasthan and Bengal.

While comprehensive data are lacking across India and through the ages, the British East India Company recorded that the total figure of known occurrences for the period 1813 - 1828 was 8,135; another source gives the number of 7,941 from 1815 - 1828, an average of 618 documented incidents per year. However, these numbers are likely to grossly underestimate the real number of satis as in 1823, 575 women performed sati in the state of Bengal alone (Hardgrave 1998). Historically, the practice of sati was to be found among many castes and at every social level, chosen by or for both uneducated and the highest ranking women of the times. The common deciding factor was often ownership of wealth or property, since all possessions of the widow devolved to the husband's family upon her death. In a country that shunned widows, sati was considered the highest expression of wifely devotion to a dead husband (Allen & Dwivedi 1998, Moore 2004).

It was deemed an act of peerless piety and was said to purge her of all her sins, release her from the cycle of birth and rebirth and ensure salvation for her dead husband and the seven generations that followed her (Moore 2004). Because its proponents lauded it as the required conduct of righteous women, it was not considered to be suicide, otherwise banned or discouraged by Hindu scripture. Sati also carried romantic associations which some were at apparent pains to amplify. Stein (1978) states "The widow on her way to the pyre was the object (for once) of all public attention...Endowed with the gift of prophecy and the power to cure and bless, she was immolated amid great fanfare, with great veneration". Only if she was virtuous and pious would she be worthy of being sacrificed; consequently being burned or being seen as a failed wife were often her only choices (Stein 1978). Indeed, the very reference to the widow from the point at which she decided to become a "Sati" (Chaste One) removed any further personal reference to her as an individual and elevated her to a remote and untouchable context.

It is little wonder that women growing up in a culture in which they were so little valued as individuals considered it the only way for a good wife to behave. The alternative, anyway, was not appealing. After the death of a husband an Hindi widow was expected to live the life of an aesthetic, renouncing all social activities, shaving her head, eating only boiled rice and sleeping on thin coarse matting (Moore 2004). To many, death may have been preferable, especially for those who were still girls themselves when their husband's died. A Woman Leaping into the Flames to the Corpse of her Husband, etching by Solvyng 1799. Over the centuries, many of India's inhabitants have disagreed with the practice of sati. Since its very foundation the Sikh religion has explicitly prohibited it. Sati was regarded as a barbaric practice by the Islamic rulers of the Mogul period, and many tried to halt the custom with laws and edicts banning the practice. Many Hindu scholars have argued against sati, calling it "as suicide, and...a pointless and futile act"; both abolitionists and promoters of sati use Hindu scripture as justification of their position.

At the end of the 18th Century, the influx of Europeans into India meant that the practice of sati was being scrutinized as never before; missionaries, travelers and civil servants alike condemned official Raj tolerance of the "dreadful practice" and called for its end (Hardgrave 1998). In 1827 the Governor-General of India, Lord Bentinck, finally outlawed the custom in its entirety, claiming it had no sound theological basis (James 1998). James also notes that the outlawing of sati practice was considered the first direct affront to Indian religious beliefs and therefore contributed to the end of the British Raj. However the common people felt about it, many Indian rulers of the 19th century welcomed its abolition (Allen & Dwivedi 1998). Most recorded instances of sati during the 1800's were described as "voluntary" acts of courage and devotion (Hardgrave 1998), a conviction that sati advocates continue to promote to this day.

At the very least, women committing sati were encouraged by priests (who received the best item from the women's possessions as payment), the relatives of both families (who received all the women's remaining possessions and untold blessings) and by general peer pressure. However it appears that at least in some recorded cases the women were drugged. In "An Account of a Woman Burning Herself, By an Officer," which appeared in the Calcutta Gazette in 1785, the observer describes the woman as likely under the influence of bhang (marijuana) or opium but otherwise "unruffled." After she was lifted upon the pyre, she "laid herself down by her deceased husband, with her arms about his neck. Two people immediately passed a rope twice across the bodies, and fastened it so tight to the stakes that it would have effectually prevented her from rising had she attempted". Once the reality of burning to death became obvious, many women tried to escape their fate. Measures and implements were put into place to ensure that they could not.

Edward Thompson wrote that a woman "was often bound to the corpse with cords, or both bodies were fastened down with long bamboo poles curving over them like a wooden coverlet, or weighted down by logs." These poles were continuously wetted down to prevent them from burning and the widow from escaping (Parkes, 1850). If she did manage to escape, she and her relatives were ostracized by society, as is related by the redoubtable Fanny Parkes, wife of a minor British civil servant during the early 1800's, who gives a frank eyewitness account in 1823 of a sati burning and the consequences: A rich baniya, a corn chandler, whose house was near the gate of our grounds, departed this life; he was an Hindu. On the 7th of November, the natives in the bazaar were making a great noise with their tom-toms, drums, and other discordant musical instruments, rejoicing that his widow had determined to perform sati, i.e., to burn on his funeral-pile. The [English] magistrate sent for the woman, used every argument to dissuade her, and offered her money.

Her only answer was dashing her head on the floor, and saying, 'If you will not let me burn with my husband, I will hang myself in your court of justice.' The shastras say, The prayers and imprecations of a sati are never uttered in vain; the great gods themselves cannot listen to them unmoved.' If a widow touches either food or water from the time her husband expires until she ascends the pile, she cannot, by Hindu law, be burned with the body; therefore the magistrate kept the corpse forty-eight hours, in the hope that hunger would compel the woman to eat. Guards were set over her, but she never touched anything. My husband accompanied the magistrate to see the sati: about five thousand people were collected together on the banks of the Ganges: the pile was then built, and the putrid body placed upon it; the magistrate stationed guards to prevent the people from approaching it.

After having bathed in the river, the widow lighted a brand, walked round the pile, set it on fire, and then mounted cheerfully: the flame caught and blazed up instantly; she sat down, placing the head of the corpse on her lap, and repeated several times the usual form, 'Ram, Ram, sati; Ram, Ram, sati;' i.e., 'God, God, I am chaste.' As the wind drove the fierce fire upon her, she shook her arms and limbs as if in agony; at length she started up and approached the side to escape. An Hindu, one of the police who had been placed near the pile to see she had fair play, and should not be burned by force, raised his sword to strike her, and the poor wretch shrank back into the flames. The magistrate seized and committed him to prison. The woman again approached the side of the blazing pile, sprang fairly out, and ran into the Ganges, which was within a few yards.

When the crowd and the brothers of the dead man saw this, they called out, 'Cut her down, knock her on the head with a bamboo; tie her hands and feet, and throw her in again' and rushed down to execute their murderous intentions, when the gentlemen and the police drove them back. The woman drank some water, and having extinguished the fire on her red garment, said she would mount the pile again and be burned. The magistrate placed his hand on her shoulder (which rendered her impure), and said, 'By your own law, having once quitted the pile you cannot ascend again; I forbid it. You are now an outcast from the Hindus, but I will take charge of you, the [East India] Company will protect you, and you shall never want food or clothing.' He then sent her, in a palanquin, under a guard, to the hospital.

The crowd made way, shrinking from her with signs of horror, but returned peaceably to their homes: the Hindus annoyed at her escape, and the Musulmans saying, 'It was better that she should escape, but it was a pity we should have lost the tamasha (amusement) of seeing her burnt to death.' Had not the magistrate and the English gentlemen been present, the Hindus would have cut her down when she attempted to quit the fire; or had she leapt out, would have thrown her in again, and have said, 'She performed sati of her own accord, how could we make her? It was the will of God.' ... 'What good will burning do you?' asked a bystander. She replied, 'The women of my husband's family have all been satis, why should I bring disgrace upon them? I shall go to heaven, and afterwards reappear on earth, and be married to a very rich man.' She was about twenty or twenty-five years of age, and possessed of some property, for the sake of which her relatives wished to put her out of the world.

As a result of being outlawed, sati began to decline in the 19th Century but persisted in parts of India, particularly Rajasthan, a state with one of the lowest literacy rates in India. Chimnabai, wife of Sayajirao Gaekwad III, Maharaja of Baroda from 1875 to 1939, was a tireless campaigner for the rights of Indian women. In 1927 in a speech at the first All-India Women's Conference she called sati a curse, but also noted that the practice no longer posed a great risk to Indian women, unlike the practices of girl-child marriage and the institution of purdah. The Wife Burning Herself with Some of her Husband's Property, etching by Solvyng 1799: In the late 1950's, a royal sati took place. Performed in Jodhpur by Sugankunverba, the widow of Brigadier Jabbar Singh Sisodia, her act of self-immolation occurred illegally and supposedly in secret.

The Maharani Padmavati Gaekwad of Baroda, her close friend, provided this account of her death in 1984: About a month before he died she stopped eating and drinking. She went about her household chores, looked after her husband and nursed him, but without letting on she got together all the things required for the last rites. I used to go to their house to cheer them up and one evening just a little before sun-down as I drove into the compound, I heard this very deep chanting of Ram-Ram as if coming from a deep, echoing chasm. He had passed away two minutes earlier and she had already announced that she was going to commit sati when he was cremated at sunrise. While they attended to his body she went to her bathroom, had a bath and put on the brand new clothes that she had stored in her trunk. For sati we don't wear widow's clothes but wedding clothes, with the ivory bangles and everything. The colour she chose was a sort of light pink called saptalu, which none of the wives of the Sisodias can now wear because they now do puja to that colour.

When she had dressed she sat with her husband's head on her lap all night. Twice his body perspired and twice she wiped it down saying, 'Why are you so impatient, I am coming with you. Be calm. The sun's first rays are still to come.' Morning came and her devar arrived, her husband's brother who was going to perform the last rites. When he doubted her intentions she got up and sat over the lamp which they kept burning near the dead body. She fanned the flames with the hem of her sari and sat there for five minutes until he said, 'I'm satisfied.' Now normally when a sati goes to the pyre she is accompanied by a procession, but the word had spread like wildfire through the whole city and people started gathering. So she said, 'We can't walk, bring cars and a truck,' and in this way they avoided the police who were waiting at the entrance to the big burning ghat. She had sent for me, but I didn't get the message and got there late and by that time the flames had got too high for me to see her - but I heard her voice saying 'Ram-Ram', which never stopped for a second until she died.

She is worshipped today not only by Rajputs but by everybody and so many artis and bhqjans (devotional songs) have been composed about her, and her funeral pyre burnt for almost six months non-stop with all the coconuts that people kept putting on it. There are many interesting points about this particular sati event. The woman was obviously deeply attached to her husband and devastated at his death. However no attempt was made to dissuade the woman from committing suicide; indeed her brother-in-law was concerned only with whether she would go through with it on the day and not bring shame to the family name. While several thousand people manage to catch wind of the event and attend the immolation, the authorities did absolutely nothing to prevent it, despite its illegal status. And at least up to the mid 1980's when this account was recorded, Sugankunverba was still regarded as a martyr, idolized in poems and songs and worshiped as a saint by the women of her family. If the Indian authorities were serious about stamping out sati altogether, then well publicized voluntary satis such as this one did nothing to remove any lingering glamour associated with the act.

In today's India, sati is rarely discussed openly. Ostensibly, it is considered a shameful practice, particularly by the burgeoning middle class, long outlawed and of interest only as a minor historical footnote. And yet the practice continues, particularly in rural areas of India, with over forty documented cases occurring since the 1950's (The Team, 2006), approximately one recorded incidence per year, with some anecdotal evidence to suggest that there are a much greater number of sucessful and unsuccessful sati attempts (Shiva 2008). Indeed, pro-sati advocates, generally men, demand the right to commit, worship, and propagate sati (Parilla 1999). One well documented case, that of 18-year old Roop Kanwar, occurred in 1987 at the village Deorala in Rajasthan. Eyewitness reports of the incident present conflicting stories about the voluntariness of her death: that she was dragged from a shed in which she had been hiding, that she was sedated, that she herself told her brother-in-law to light the pyre when she was ready.

Several thousand people managed to attend the event, after which she was hailed as a "pure mother". Devotees from all over India flocked to her shrine to pay homage, bringing huge revenues and status to the village. The event produced a public outcry in urban centres and served to pit a modern Indian ideology against a very traditional one. After Kanwar's death, the Sati Dharma Raksha Samti or Committee for the Defence of the Religion of Sati was formed (Hawley 1994), run and supported by educated young Rajput men who stated that sati was a "fundamental part of their traditions; a refusal to legitimize sati, they said, was a deliberate attempt to marginalize the Rajputs" (Kumar 1995). Kanwar's sati led to the creation of state level laws to prevent the occurrence and glorification of future incidents and the creation of the central Indian government's The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act 1987. However, of the 56 people charged with her murder, participation in her murder or glorification of her murder during two separate investigations, all were subsequently acquitted. Other incidents of sati continue to take place.

Fifty-five year old Charan Shah's self-immolation in 1999 at Satpura village in Uttar Pradesh is shrouded in mystery as witnesses refused to co-operate with official investigations. Shah's suicide is notable because it led to the publication of a vitriolic article apparently justifying the practice of sati and demanding the repeal of the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, by a respected female academic, Madhu Kishwar (published in Manushi, Issue 115). In May 2006, Vidyawati, a 35-year-old woman allegedly jumped into the funeral pyre of her husband in Rari-Bujurg Village, Uttar Pradesh. In August 2006, Janakrani, a 40-year-old woman, died on the funeral pyre of her husband in Sagar district. In October 2008, a 75-year-old woman committed sati by jumping into her 80-year-old husband's funeral pyre at Checher in Raipur. Following public outcries after each instance there have been various reforms passed which now make it illegal even to be a bystander at a sati event.

Other measures include efforts to stop the glorification of the victims, including the erection of shrines over their ashes, the encouragement of pilgrimages to the site of the pyre and the derivation of any income from such sites and pilgrims. However, it must be recognized that the tradition of sati in India is very complex indeed. Despite the existence of state and country-wide laws prohibiting the act and its glorification, incidents continue to occur every year and may be on the increase. As one Indian feminist notes, these occurrences confirm that deeply held and deeply cherished norms cannot be changed simply by enacting laws (Shiva 2008). Burning of A Hindoo Widow, by James Peggs Sati Pratha: The Burning of Widows | Truth About Hinduism Sati Pratha: The Burning of Widows Written by Sulaiman Razvi Sati Pratha is a Hindu practice where the wife ascends the funeral pyre of her husband and gives up her life. The word Sati may have been derived from the name of Shiva’s wife. Sati, also called Dakshayani, was one of the daughters of Prasuti and Daksha.

She loved Shiva, but her father Daksha forbade her marriage to Shiva. She married Shiva anyway, and Daksha got revenge by not inviting Shiva to a festival during his absence. Sati killed herself by self-immolation on a fire. After Shiva returned and found Sati’s body, he killed and decapitated Daksha, later replacing his head with a goat’s. Sati Pratha was widespread during the Early Brahmanic Dark Ages (1500 BC – 500 BC). It was later enforced by the Brahmins on their usurpation of power during the Later Brahmanic Dark Ages (500 BC – 1000 AD). Sati Pratha can be found in almost every Hindu scripture. There have been some cases of Sati Pratha in Independent India, 1 April 2015 Maharashtra: Woman’s body found from husband’s pyre An unusual occurence in Bihar “In 1987, 18-year-old Roop Kanwar was immolated in Rajasthan in front of the whole village. Hers was the fortieth case in independent India, and the 28th in Rajasthan.

In this case too it was glorified as the ultimate religious act of a married woman. Public pressure forced the government to enact the Rajasthan Sati Prevention Ordinance on October 1, 1987. Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia had maintained a stony silence on whether her government will appeal against the judgment. And it had to be filed before March 31. This would have meant going against her mother’s professed views supporting sati. It would also have meant going against the Hindu revivalists in the BJP.

Incidentally, VHP Vice-President Acharya Dharmendra was the master of ceremonies at the first death anniversary of Roop Kanwar.” IN MAHABHARATA Mahabharata, Adi Parva 1.125 “Vaisampayana continued, ‘Having said this, the daughter of the king of Madras, the wedded wife of Pandu, ascended the funeral pyre of her lord, that bull among men.” Mahabharata, Adi Parva 1.126 His wife Madri, beholding him placed in the funeral pyre and about to be consumed, herself ascended the same pyre, and sacrificing her life thus, hath gone with her lord to the region reserved for chaste wives. Mahabharata, Adi Parva 1.95 And (one day) Pandu, beholding Madri decked with ornaments, had his desire kindled. And, as soon as he touched her, he died. Madri ascended the funeral pyre with her lord.

Mahabharata, Mausala Parva 16.7 The four wives of that heroic son of Sura ascended the funeral pyre and were consumed with the body of their lord. All of them attained to those regions of felicity which were his.The son of Pandu burnt the body of his uncle together with those four wives of his, using diverse kinds of scents and perfumed wood. As the funeral pyre blazed up, a loud sound was heard of the burning wood and other combustible materials, along with the clear chant of Samans and the wailing of the citizens and others who witnessed the rite. IN RAMAYANA Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya Kanda 3.66.12 “Today itself, I too in devotion to my husband, will meet my appointed end. I shall enter the fire, duly embracing this body of my husband.” Shri K.M.K. Murthy IN PURANAS Devi Bhagavatam 6.25.35-50 …Once Madri, full of youth and beauty, was staying alone in a solitary place and Pandu seeing her embraced her and due to the curse, died.

When the funeral pyre was ablaze, the chaste Madri entered into the fire and died a Sati… Devi Bhagavatam 2.6.53-71 …Then those Munis, practising great vows, knew that Pandu was dead and performed duly, on the banks of the Ganges, the ceremony of burning the dead. At that time Madri gave over to Kunti the charge of her two sons and followed the Sati practice along with her husband to go to Satyaloka… Agni Purana 222.19-23 ”…The widow who practices self-control and austerities after the death of her husband, goes to heaven…the widow who burns herself on the same funeral pire wth her husband also goes to heaven.” Tr. M.N. Dutt Kurma Purana 2.34.108b-109 ”A woman who enters the funeral pyre along with her husband, shall uplift him even if is a Brahmana-slayer, an ungrateful fellow or one defiled by great sins. learned men know this to be the greatest expiation for women.” Tr. Board of Scholars, Edited by J.L.

Shastri. Vishnu Purana 5.38 The 8 queens of Krishna, who have been named, with Rukmini at their head, embraced the body of Hari, and entered the funeral fire. Revati also embracing the corpse of Rama, entered the blazing pile, which was cool to her, happy in contact with her lord. Hearing these events, Ugrasena and Anakadundubhi, with Devaki and Rohini, committed themselves to the flames. Shiva Purana, KotiRudra Samhita 4.10. 23-24 ”The Brahmin lady desirous of entering the pyre in order to follow her husband cursed the Raksasa king. The chaste lady entered fire…” Bhagwad Purana (Srimad Bhagvatam) 4.28.50 She then prepared a blazing fire with firewood and placed the dead body of her husband upon it.

When this was finished, she lamented severely and prepared herself to perish in the fire with her husband.‘ Swami Prabhupada writes on this verse, ”It is the long-standing tradition of the Vedic system that a faithful wife dies along with her husband. This is called saha-maraṇa. In India this system was prevalent even to the date of British occupation. At that time, however, a wife who did not wish to die with her husband was sometimes forced to do so by her relatives. Formerly that was not the case — the wife used to enter the fire voluntarily. The British government stopped this practice, considering it inhuman. However, from the early history of India we find that when Mahārāja Pāṇḍu died, he was survived by two wives — Mādrī and Kuntī. The question was whether both should die or one should die. After the death of Mahārāja Pāṇḍu, his wives settled that one should remain and the other should go. Mādrī would perish with her husband in the fire, and Kuntī would remain to take charge of the five Pāṇḍava children.

Even as late as 1936 we saw a devoted wife voluntarily enter the fire of her husband.’’ A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada on Bhagwad Purana 4.28.50 [Source: ] He also writes ‘’In the Vedic culture there is a system known as satī or saha-maraṇa, in which a woman dies with her husband. According to this system, if the husband dies, the wife will voluntarily die by falling in the blazing funeral pyre of her husband. Here, in this verse, the feelings inherent in this culture are expressed by the wife of the brāhmaṇa. A woman without a husband is like a dead body. Therefore according to Vedic culture a girl must be married. This is the responsibility of her father. A girl may be given in charity, and a husband may have more than one wife, but a girl must be married. This is Vedic culture. A woman is supposed to be always dependent—in her childhood she is dependent on her father, in youth on her husband, and in old age on her elderly sons. According to Manu-saṁhitā, she is never independent.

Independence for a woman means miserable life. In this age, so many girls are unmarried and falsely imagining themselves free, but their life is miserable. Here is an instance in which a woman felt that without her husband she was nothing but a dead body.’’Swami Prabhupada on Bhagwad Purana 9.9.32 [Source: ] Bhagwad Purana 9.9.36 After this way cursing Mitrasaha [‘indulgent toward friends’ or Saudâsa] she, being devoted to be with her husband, found her destination by stepping into the fire that burned the bones of her husband. Srimad Bhagavatam 11.31.19-20 Tormented by separation from the Lord, His parents gave up their lives at that very spot. My dear Parīkṣit, the wives of the Yādavas then climbed onto the funeral pyres, embracing their dead husbands. The wives of Lord Balarāma also entered the fire and embraced His body, and Vasudeva’s wives entered his fire and embraced his body.

The daughters-in-law of Lord Hari entered the funeral fires of their respective husbands, headed by Pradyumna. And Rukmiṇī and the other wives of Lord Kṛṣṇa — whose hearts were completely absorbed in Him — entered His fire. Garuda Purana 1.107.29 ”A Wife who dies in the company of her husband shall remain in heaven as many years as there are hairs on his person” Tr. J.L. Shastri Garuda Purana II.4.88-97 “…A woman who has been chaste and faithful to her husband should mount on the pyre after bowing to her (deceased) husband before the funeral rites start. One who gets away from the pyre due to fainting should observe the vow named prajapatya. One who ascends the pyre and follows up her husband stays in heaven for a period equal to the number of hair on the body, three and a half crore. Just as the snake-charmer takes out the snake from the hole so also she takes out her husband from hell and enjoys with him in paradise. She who ascends the pyre goes to heaven.

She is praised by the celestial nymphs and enjoys with her husband so long as the fourteen Indras rule in heaven successively. Even if the man has killed a brahmana or a friend or any other person of noble conduct he is purified of sins by his wife who ascends his pyre. A woman who enters fire after the death of her husband prospers in the heaven like Arundhati. Until and unless the woman burns herself after her husband’s death she is never released from the bond of her sex. A woman who follows her husband purifies the three families on her mother’s side, the three families on her father’s side and the three families on her husband’s side.” Tr. J.L. Shastri Another verse mentioned in Garuda Purana translated by Ernest and Subrahmanyam shows how a widow repented, Garuda Purana 2.40 ”Not knowing my duty I did not serve my husband, nor after his death enter the fire. Having become widowed I performed no austerities;–O Dweller in the Body, make reparation for whatever you have done!” Tr. Ernest Wood and S.V Subrahmanyam, Edited by B.D. Basu.

Garuda Purana 10.42 ”When a woman burns her body with her husband’s, the fire burns her limbs only, but does not afflict her soul” Tr. Ernest Wood and S.V Subrahmanyam, Edited by B.D. Basu. Garuda Purana 10.45-46 ”Likewise she who has joined her husband is never burnt. her inner soul becomes unified with that of her husband, by death. The woman who does not burn herself in the fire, on her husband’s death, is certainly never released from feminine bodies.” Tr. Ernest Wood and S.V. Subrahmanyam, Edited by B.D. Basu Garuda Purana 10.48 ”The Woman who ascends the funeral pyre, when her husband is dead, becomes equal to Arundhati, and attains the heaven. [50] She who goes with her husband purifies three families her mother’s, her father’s, and that into which she was given.” Tr. Ernest Wood and S.V. Subrahmanyam, Edited by B.D.

Basu Brahma Purana 10.75 ”Dying Immediately after the husband is the greatest duty of women. This is the path laid down in the Vedas. [77] The woman who follows her husband shall stay in heaven for as many years as there are hairs in a man’s body, viz. three and a half crores of years.” Tr. Board of Scholars, Edited by J.L. Shastri Brahmanda Purana 2.3.30.39 ”By entering this burning pyre, I will be slightly after a long time, the dear guest of my husband in the world of the Pitrs (Manes)[41] After saying these words with firm decision, Renuka decided to follow her husband by entering the fire.” Tr. Ganesh Vasudeo Tagare Padma Purana V.106.60 ”Having raised her, Narada said to the pure one about her dead (husband): ”O innocent one of large eyes, please go to your husband. O you of large eyes, your husband, abandoned by his kinsmen, is dead. O auspicious one, you should not weep. Enter fire (i.e.

funeral pyre of your husband).”[65-68] If you will go to (i.e. desire to enter) fire there, then do not weep . O daughter, if you have committed a sin like enjoying another man (than your husband) then make an expiation to purify that. On entering into the fire your minor sins will perish.” Tr. N.A. Deshpande Padma Purana VI.252.89-90 ”Rukmaputri with Pradyumna, Usa with Aniruddha and all Yadava ladies honoured the bodies of their husbands and entered fire.” Tr. N.A. Deshpande Skanda Purana III.i.12.115-116 ”Ere long thereafter, King Manojava abandoned his body and went to the world of Siva, due to the power of that Tirtha. O Brahmanas, his wife Sumitra embraced his body then and ascended his funeral pyre. She too attained the same world.” Tr. G.V.

Tagare Skanda Purana V.i.53.38-41 ”…The beautiful woman gathered fuel and twigs together and kindled the funeral pyre which she ascended along with her husband. She was mentally pleased in doing so…” Tr. G.V. Tagare Skanda Purana III.ii.7.53-56 “A chaste woman who follows her husband from the house to the cremation ground for self-immolation undoubtedly attains the merit of a horse-sacrifice at every step. Just as a snake-catcher forcibly retrieves a snake from its hole, so also a chaste woman retrieves her husband from the messengers of Yama and goes to heave. On seeing a chaste woman the messengers of Yama flee. On seeing the splendour of a chaste woman even the sun feels burning sensation, even the fire gets burnt and all other luminaries begin to tremble. A chaste woman sportingly enjoys heavenly pleasures along with her husband for as many crores and ten thousand years as there are hairs on her body.” Tr. G.V.

Tagare Narada Purana, Uttarabhaga 16.85-89 “She sold off her bangle and brought a great deal of fuel. She prepared the funeral pyre. After placing her dead husband on it, she poured ghee over the pyre (fuel). She too climbed on the funeral pyre joining her face to his face, her heart near his heart and O gentle lady, her buttocks near his buttocks. With her foot she dragged the fire. The auspicious lady of charming limbs set fire to the ailing body of the husband along with her body. As the fire blazed brightly, she cast off her body and went to the world of the Devas taking her husband with her after annihilating many of his sins by means of her holy rites very difficult to be performed.” Tr. G.V. Tagare Narada Purana, Uttarabhaga 30.87 “With a great deal of merits the woman goes to the region of Visnu alongwith her husband if her body is cremated alongwith him. But a woman greedy of wealth and of her body (?) attains Yama’s torture and the affliction of being born in base wombs of lower species.” Tr. G.V.

Tagare Vamana Purana 46.51-53 “…Then after a long time that beloved slender-bodied queen of the king had pregnancy from that best of kings. During the pregnancy of the wife the king died. She, loyal to her husband, while desiring to get upon (the funeral pyre of) her husband, was prevented by the ministers, but could not be stopped.” Tr. Anand Swarup Gupta There is another fake story circulated on internet that, Wives of kings used to immolate themselves only if the Kings went into battle with Muslims, Jauhar wasn’t practiced when rival king was Hindu. Let’s not indulge in history and check what scripture says, Vishnu Purana 3.18 It is related that there was formerly a king named Śatadhanu, whose wife Śaivyá was a woman of great virtue. She was devoted to her husband, benevolent, sincere, pure, adorned with every female excellence, with humility, and discretion…After a time the Rájá, triumphant over his enemies, died; and the princess ascended the funeral pile of her husband. There is no reference that King Satadhanu lived in the period of Muslims.

and here we read that the wife of the king ascended funeral pyre of her husband after he died in (or after) the battle. So this refutes the claim of people who tries to blame others for all evil practices of their religion. If self-immolation with husband is such a great virtue then why don’t Hindu scripture says the same about men? But not all women are suppose to practice Sati Pratha, Brahmin women are barred from practicing it as it will be Brahmin slaughter, other than Brahmin women, following women are also exempted from ascending the funeral pyre of their husbands, Narada Purana I.7.52 “O blessed princess! The following (ladies) do not ascend funeral pyre, viz. those with infant children (depending on them), pregnant women, those whose monthly course has not yet started and women in the menses.” Tr. G.V. Tagare IN SMRITIS Parasara Smriti 4.28 ”A widow, who immolates herself on the same funeral pile with her deceased husband, resides in heaven for ten millions of years, which is the number of hairs on the human body.” Tr. M.N.

Dutt Brihaspati Smriti 24.11 A wife is considered half the body (of her husband), equally sharing the result of his good or wicked deeds; whether she ascends the pile after him, or chooses to survive him leading a virtuous life, she promotes the welfare of her husband. Vishnu Smriti 25.14 ”After the death of her husband, to preserve her chastity, or to ascend the pile after him.” Tr. Various Oriental Scholars Daksa Smrti 4.18-19 A sati who dies on the funeral pyre of her husband enjoys an eternal bliss in heaven Vijnanesvara writes in Mitakshara on Yajnavalkya Smriti verse 88 ‘’Moreover, though ”deprived of her husband,” or bereft of her husband, she should not be without her father, &c, Because, being without their protection, she ”becomes infamous,” becomes blameworthy. This is (the rule, in case the widow wishes to pass her life) as a Brahmachari or celebate. Because it is ordained in the Vishnu Smriti (Ch. XXXV.

14):- ”After the death of her husband (the widow should adopt one of these two courses) either to preserve her chastity (Brahmacharya) or to ascend the pile after him.” There is great virtue in Anvarohana (or self-immolation along with the deceased husband.) Vyasa has shown the same thing, in the form of the parable of the she-pigeon:- ”Devoted to her husband, she entered the raging fire, and thereafter she obtained her (dead) lord who was adorned with a variegated bracelet. Then afterwards the bird went in company with his wife to heaven, and enjoyed it with her being honored with all acts (of service.)”

Question: What Hindu practice involves a widow throwing herself onto her husband's funeral pyre?
Answer: Suttee