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v t e

Sati (Devanagari: सती, the feminine of sat "true"; also called suttee) refers to a funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman immolates herself on her husband’s funeral pyre.

Etymology and usage

The term is derived from the 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 husband Shiva.

The term sati was originally interpreted as "chaste woman". Sati appears in both Hindi and Sanskrit texts, where it is synonymous with "good wife", the term suttee was commonly used by Anglo-Indian English writers.

History

Origins and comparisons

Few reliable records exist of the practice before the time of the Gupta empire, approximately 400 CE. After about this time, instances of sati began to be marked by inscribed memorial stones. The earliest of these are found in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, though the largest collections date from several centuries later, and are found in Rajasthan. These stones, called devli, or sati-stones, became shrines to the dead woman, who was treated as an object of reverence and worship. They are most common in western India. A description of suttee appears in a Greek account of the Punjab written in the first century BCE by historian Diodorus Siculus.

The ritual has prehistoric roots, and many parallels from other cultures are known. Compare, for example, the ship burial of the Rus' described by Ibn Fadlan, where a female slave is burned with her master

Aristobulus of Cassandreia, a Greek historian who travelled to India with the expedition of Alexander the Great, recorded the practice of sati at the city of Taxila. A later instance of voluntary co-cremation appears in an account of an Indian soldier in the army of Eumenes of Cardia, whose two wives jumped on his funeral pyre, in 316 BC.

Voluntary death at funerals has been described in northern India before the Gupta empire. The original practices were called anumarana, and were uncommon. Anumarana was not comparable to later understandings of sati, since the practices were not restricted to widows – rather, anyone, male or female, with personal loyalty to the deceased could commit suicide at a loved one's funeral. These included the deceased's relatives, servants, followers, or friends. Sometimes these deaths stemmed from vows of loyalty, and bear a slight resemblance to the later tradition of junshi in Japan.

Apart from the Indian subcontinent, occurencies of this practice have been found in many parts of the world; it was followed by the ancient Egyptians, Thracians, Scythians, Scandinavians, Chinese, as well as people of Oceania and Africa.

Models for the spread of sati

How, when, where and why, the practice of sati spread are complex issues as borne out by the extended discussion of Anand Yang. The practice of sati is not mentioned in any of the earliest religious texts, and our first literary reference is from the fourth century BCE, some 800 years before the evidence by memorial stones begins to appear. Relative to the Vedic Age (1700-500 BCE), there is consensus that a decline in women's status occurred in the following centuries, and one view on the increase in practice of sati is that it is a concomitant feature of this decline in the status of women. However, Yang says it would be to overstate the equation to say the increase of sati depended solely on this declined status of women (or only reflected it), nor can it explain the uneven geographical spread of this practice. Citing Romila Thapar, Yang notes as additional explanatory factors, "the practice may have originated among societies in flux and become customary among those holding property..Once it was established as a custom associated with the Kshatriyas (i.e, ruling military elite), it would continue to be so among those claiming Kshatriya status as well".

According to one model, as referred to by Yang, taking into account the association of sati with the warrior elite in particular, sati only became really widespread during the Muslim invasions of India, and the practice of sati now acquired an additional meaning as a means to preserve the honour of women whose men had been slain. As S.S.Sashi lays out the argument, "The argument is that the practice came into effect during the Islamic invasion of India, to protect their honor from Muslims who were known to commit mass rape on the women of cities that they could capture successfully."

However, the practice of sati, again according to Yang, with reference to the memorial stone evidence, was carried out in appreciable numbers in both western and southern parts of India, and in some areas, it seems to have reached peak level of incidence in pre-Islamic times. Although, therefore, some local patterns directly contradict the theory that Muslim invasions was the uniformly principal factor behind the increase of the practice, it is certainly true that within the period of Muslim-Hindu conflict, Rajputs performed a distinct form of sati known as jauhar as a direct response to the onslaught they experienced.

Military conflicts between Hindu states seems to have propelled the practice of sati into wider use as well, not just wars between Muslim forces and Hindu states; a period of increase possibly due to such internal infighting roughly datable to end of first millennium/beginning second millennium.

Yang also points to two other processes behind the increase of sati. Firstly, that of "Sanskritinization" of the lower class aspirants to higher status, where emulation of the valorized practices of the warrior meant that sati became adopted among these aspirants. The second process for spreading sati is regarded by Yang to have been crucial, namely that the priestly class, the brahmins began adopting the practice. As Yang puts it, "Surely, with the practice rooted in both the kingly and Brahminical traditions, its constituency must have grown rapidly across spatial and social boundaries".

Attitudes of Muslim rulers

Under the Delhi Sultanate, permission had to be sought from the widow prior to any practice of sati as a check against compulsion. However, this later became more of a formality. Mughals interfered little with local customs, but they seemed intent on stopping sati. Mughal emperor Humayun (1508-1556) was the first to try a royal fiat against sati. Akbar (1542–1605) was next to issue official general orders prohibiting sati and insisted that no woman could commit sati without the specific permission of his Chief police officers. The Chief police officers were instructed by him to delay the woman's decision for as long as possible. Pensions, gifts and rehabilitative help were offered to the potential sati to persuade her from committing the act. Tavernier, writing in the reign of Shah Jahan, observed that widows with children were not allowed in any circumstances to burn and that in other cases, governors did not readily give permission, but could be bribed to do so.

The emperor Aurangzeb (r.1658-1707 CE) was the strongest opponent of sati among the Mughals. In December 1663, he issued an "order that in all lands under Mughal control, never again should the officials allow a woman to be burnt". Although the possibility of an evasion of government orders through payment of bribes existed, later European travelers record that by the end of Aurangzeb’s reign, sati was much abated and very rare, except by some Rajahs' wives.

British and other European colonial powers

Non-British colonial powers in India

By the end of the 18th century, the practice had been banned in territories held by some European powers. The Portuguese banned the practice in Goa by about 1515. The Dutch and the French banned it in Chinsurah and Pondichéry, their respective colonies. The Danes, who held the small territories of Tranquebar and Serampore, permitted it until the 19th century.

British India

The British, following the example of the early Mughals, for a while tried to regulate it by requiring that it be carried out in the presence of their officials and strictly according to custom. Attempts to limit or ban the practice had been made by individual British officers in the 18th century, but without the backing of the British East India Company. The first formal British ban was imposed in 1798, in the city of Calcutta only. The practice continued in surrounding regions. Toward the end of the 18th century, the evangelical church in Britain, and its members in India, started campaigns against sati. Leaders of these campaigns included William Carey and William Wilberforce, and both appeared to be motivated by their love for the Indian people and their desire to introduce Indians to Christianity. These movements put pressure on the company to ban the act. The Bengal Presidency started collecting figures on the practice in 1813.

The leader of the burgeoning Swaminarayan sect, Sahajanand Swami, was influential in the eventual eradication of sati. He argued that the practice had no Vedic standing and only God could take a life he had given. He also argued that widows could lead lives that would eventually lead to salvation. Sir John Malcolm, the Governor of Bombay supported Sahajanand Swami in this endeavor, whose domino effect led to other social reforms.

From about 1812, the Bengali reformer Raja Rammohan Roy started his own campaign against the practice. He was motivated by the experience of seeing his own sister-in-law being forced to commit sati. Among his actions, he visited Calcutta cremation grounds to persuade widows against immolation, formed watch groups to do the same, and wrote and disseminated articles to show that it was not required by scripture.

On 4 December 1829, the practice was formally banned in the Bengal Presidency lands, by the then-governor general, William Bentick. The ban was challenged in the courts, and the matter went to the Privy Council in London, but was upheld in 1832. Other company territories also banned it shortly after. Although the original ban in Bengal was fairly uncompromising, later in the century British laws include provisions that provided mitigation for murder when "the person whose death is caused, being above the age of 18 years, suffers death or takes the risk of death with his own consent".

General Sir Charles James Napier, the Commander-in-Chief in India from 1859 to 1861 is often noted for a story involving Hindu priests complaining to him about the prohibition of sati by British authorities.

"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."

Princely states, and areas outside India

Sati remained legal in some princely states for a time after it had been abolished in lands under British control. Jaipur, for example, banned the practice in 1846. Nepal continued to practice sati well into the 20th century, being formally banned throughout the country by a law passed 28 June 1920.

On the Indonesian island of Bali, 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.

Practice

Standard procedures of traditional sati

The act of sati is said to exist voluntarily; from the existing accounts, many of these acts did indeed occur voluntarily. The act may have been expected of widows in some communities, and the extent to which social pressures or expectations constitute compulsion has been much debated in modern times. However, there were also instances where the wish of the widow to commit sati was not welcomed by others, and where efforts were made to prevent the death.

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 that the widow is being placed, or enters, or jumps, upon the funeral pyre of her husband, slight variations in funeral practice have been reported here as well, for different regions. 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.

Compulsion

Sati is often described as voluntary, although in some cases it may have been forced. In one narrative account, the widow appears to have been drugged either with bhang or opium and was tied to the pyre to keep her from fleeing after the fire was lit.

Royal funerals

Royal funerals sometimes have included the deaths of many wives and concubines. A number of examples of these occur in the history of Rajasthan.

Maharani Raj Rajeshwari Devi of Nepal became regent in 1799 in the name of her son, Girvan Yuddha Bikram Shah Deva, after the abdication of her husband, Rana Bahadur Shah, who became a sanyasi. Her husband returned and took power again in 1804. In 1806 he was assassinated by his brother, and ten days later on 5 May 1806, his widow was forced to commit sati.

Symbolic sati

There have been accounts of symbolic sati in some Hindu 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.

Jauhar

The Rajput practice of Jauhar, known from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, was the collective suicide of a community facing certain defeat in a battle against Muslims. It consisted of the mass immolation of women, children, the elderly and the sick, at the same time that their fighting men died in battle. Chittor is famous for jauhar of Rani Padmini, Rani Karnavati and the wives of Maharana Udai Singh. Arvind Sharma believes that these particular conditions must lead to a distinction between jauhar and sati, and regards jauhar as principally as the result a desire to avoid being captured alive by the invading Muslims, rather than being regarded as the meritorious self-sacrifice of the devoted widow.

Live burials

In some Hindu communities, it is conventional to bury the dead, rather than cremating them. Self-sacrifice of widows have been known to have occurred in the past in such communities as well, with the widow being buried alive beside her husband, in ceremonies with many of the elements similar to those found within rituals of immolation. As an example of how European travellers have reported upon this particular practice of a widow's self-sacrifice by means of live burial, the 17th century French traveller and gem merchant Jean Baptiste Tavernier gave the following account:

In most places upon the Coast of Coromandel, the Women are not burnt with their deceas'd Husbands, but they are buried alive with them in holes which the Bramins make a foot deeper than the tallness of the man and woman. Usually they chuse a Sandy place; so that when the man and woman both let down together, all the Company with Baskets of Sand fill up the hole about half a foot higher than the surface of the ground, after which they jump and dance upon it, till they believe the woman to be stiff'd

The 18th century painter Balthazar Solvyns is another witness of the ritual of being buried alive beside the deceased husband, although he specifies this as limited as a caste distinction within the territories such as Orissa, rather than being a general distinctive feature within a particular geographical region that Tavernier recounts. Solvyns gives expression to an inescapable sense of admiration of the woman who chooses to be buried alive, though he regards the whole rite as "barbarous":

We can not refuse our pity to the poor Hindoo women who are sacrificed to this ancient and barbarous custom; but their courage, firmness, and resignation, entitles them to some share of admiration. While their husband lives they are slaves, when he dies they must be ready to resign in the most cruel manner a life of which they never tasted the enjoyments. In no part of the universe are women born to so dismal a prospect.

Prevalence

Records of sati exist across the subcontinent. However, there seems to have been major differences historically, in different regions, and among different communities. Furthermore, no reliable figures exist for the numbers who have died by sati, in general.

Numbers

A local indication of the numbers is given in the records kept by the Bengal Presidency of the British East India Company, the only authority within the Indian subcontinent provably known for having sought to keep statistics of the phenomenon of sati. An 1829 reported statistics for the period 1815-1824 yields a total of 5997 instances of sati for the Bengal presidency in that period, i.e., in average 600 per year. In the same statistics, it is said that the numbers for the same time period in the Madras and Bombay presidencies totalled 635 instances of sati. Raja Ram Mohan Roy estimated that there were ten times as many cases of Sati in Bengal compared to the rest of the country. Bentinck, in his 1829 report, states that 420 occurrences took place in one (unspecified) year in the 'Lower Provinces' of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, and 44 in the 'Upper Provinces' (the upper Gangetic plain).

Regional variations of incidence

It was known in Rajasthan from the earliest (6th century) to the present. About half the known sati stones in India are in Rajasthan. However, the extent to which individual instances of deaths resulted in veneration (glorification) implies that was not very common.

It is known to have occurred in the south from the 9th century through the period of the Vijayanagara empire. Madhavacharya, who is probably the best known of those historical figures who justified the practice, was originally a minister of the court of this empire. The practice continued to occur after the collapse of the empire, though apparently at a fairly low frequency. In one instance more than fifty women committed Sati in Vijayanagara after the Battle of Talikota. In North-western Karnataka about fifteen sati stones brought from Vijayanagara can be found. The actual immolation of widows might have taken place elsewhere. The relatives of Sati when they migrated took Sati stones along with them and resurrected at their new abodes. A record exists of a minister of the kingdom of Mysore giving permission for a widow to commit sati in 1805.

In the Upper Gangetic plain, while it occurred, there is no indication that it was especially widespread. The earliest known attempt by a government to stop the practice took place here, that of Muhammad Tughlaq, in the Sultanate of Delhi 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 the occurrences of it, the greatest incidence of sati in any region and period, in terms of total numbers, occurred in Bengal and Bihar in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This was during the earlier period of British rule, and before its formal abolition.. The frequency increased in periods of hardship and famine.

Modern times

Legislative status of sati in present day India

Following the outcry after the sati of Roop Kanwar, the Indian Government enacted the Rajasthan Sati Prevention Ordinance, 1987 on October 1, 1987 and later passed the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987.

The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 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, while glorifying Sati is punishable with 1–7 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 incidence

Sati has occurred in the rural areas, reports extending into the 21st century. A well documented case from 1987 was that of 18-year old Roop Kanwar. In response to this incident, additional recent legislation against the practice was passed, first within the state of Rajasthan, then generally, 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 the Indian Panna district. 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 in the State of 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. On 11 October 2008 a 75-year-old woman committed sati by jumping into her 80-year-old husband's funeral pyre at Checher in the Kasdol block of Chhattisgarh's Raipur district.

Justifications and criticisms

Brahmin scholars justified the practice, and gave reasonings as to how the scriptures could be said to justify them. Among them were Vijnanesvara, of the 12th-century Chalukya court, and the later Madhavacharya, theologian and minister in the late 14th century of the court of the Vijayanagara empire, according to Shastri, who quotes their reasoning. They lauded the practice as required conduct in righteous women, and said that it was not to be considered suicide, which was otherwise variously banned or discouraged in the scriptures. They deemed it an act of peerless piety, which was said to purge the couple of all accumulated sin, guarantee their salvation, and ensure their reunion in the afterlife.

Ancient law codes

Justifications for the practice are given in the Vishnu Smriti (dated from 700 to 1000CE):

Now the duties of a woman (are) ... After the death of her husband, to preserve her chastity, or to ascend the pile after him.

Justification for the practice is also found in the later work of the Brihaspati Smriti (25-11). Both this and the Vishnu Smriti date from the first millennium.

The Manu Smriti, often regarded as the culmination of classical Hindu law, does not mention or sanction sati. It does prescribe lifelong asceticism for most widows, no matter their age when widowed.

Scriptures

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.

The Puranas have examples of women who commit sati; they suggest that this was considered desirable or praiseworthy: A wife who dies in the company of her husband shall remain in heaven as many years as there are hairs on his person. (Garuda Purana 1.107.29) According to 2.4.93, she stays with her husband in heaven during the rule of 14 Indras, i.e. a kalpa.

According to Ramashraya Sharma, there is no conclusive evidence of the sati practice in the Ramayana. For instance, Tara, Mandodari and the widows of Dasharatha, 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's wife performs sati. The Telugu adaptation of the Ramayana, the 14th-century Ranganatha Ramayana, tells that Sulochana, wife of Indrajit, became sati on his funeral pyre.

In the Mahabharata, Madri, the second wife of Pandu, 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.

Passages in the Atharva Veda, including 13.3.1, offer advice to the widow on mourning and her life after widowhood, including her remarriage.

Endorsement or prohibition of sati in the Rig Veda?

Some commentators claim that the Rig Veda sanctions sati, while others claim that it condemns sati. The argument for condoning is based on verse 10.18.7, part of the verses to be used at funerals. Whether they describe sati or something else entirely, is disputed, The hymn is about funeral by burial, and not by cremation. There are differing translations of the passage. The translation below is one of those said to prescribe it.

इमा नारीरविधवाः सुपत्नीराञ्जनेन सर्पिषा संविशन्तु |

अनश्रवो.अनमीवाः सुरत्ना आ रोहन्तु जनयोयोनिमग्रे || (RV 10.18.7)

Let these women, whose husbands are worthy and are living, enter the house with ghee (applied) as collyrium (to their eyes). Let these wives first step into the house, tearless without any affliction and well adorned.

The text does not mention widowhood, and other translations differ in their translation of the word here rendered as 'pyre' (yoni, literally "seat, abode"; Griffith has "first let the dames go up to where he lieth"). 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.

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.

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:

Women who, due to their wicked minds, have always despised their husbands (...) whether they do this (i.e, sati), of their own free will, or out of anger, or even out of fear-all of them are purified from sin

Thus, as Leslie puts it, becoming (or being pressured into the role of) a sati was, within Tryambaka's thinking, the only truly effective method of atonement for the bad wife.

Counter-arguments within Hinduism

No early descriptions or criticisms of the practice within Hinduism are known before the Gupta period, as the practice was little known at that time.

Explicit criticisms later in the first millennium, included that of Medhatithi, a commentator on various theological works. He considered it suicide, which was forbidden by the Vedas

One shall not die before the span of one's life is run out,

Reform and bhakti 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 movement condemned the practice.

In a petition to the British East India Company in 1818, Ram Mohan Roy wrote that;-

"All these instances are murders according to every shastra."

Non-Hindu views and criticisms

European artists in the eighteenth century produced many images for their own native markets, showing the widows as heroic women, and moral exemplars.

Europeans also showed a change in their attitudes regarding local customs as their home countries became dominant local powers. The earliest Europeans to establish themselves were the Portuguese in Goa. They tried early on to override local customs and practices, including sati, as they attempted to spread Christianity throughout the territories in their control. The British entered India as a trading body, and in the earlier periods of their rule, they were largely indifferent to local practices.

In her article "Can the Subaltern Speak?" philosopher Gayatri Spivak discusses how sati takes the form of regulating women in pre-colonial India according to Hindu law, and how sati takes the form of imprisoning women in the double bind of self-expression attributed to mental illness and social rejection, or of self-incrimination according to British colonial law. The woman who commits sati takes the form of the subaltern in Spivak's work, a form much of postcolonial studies takes very seriously.

See also

• Ritual suicide
• Deorala

Notes

1. The spelling suttee is a phonetic spelling using the 19th-century English orthography. However the sati transliteration is correct using the more modern IAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration) which is the academic standard for writing the Sanskrit language with the Latin alphabet system.

References and comments

1. P. J. Cain, Mark Harrison (2001). Imperialism: Critical Concepts in Historical Studies. Routledge. p. 209. ISBN 9780415206303.
2. ^ Doniger, Wendy (2009). The Hindus: An Alternative History. Penguin Books. p. 611. ISBN 9780143116691.
3. ^ Shakuntala Rao Shastri, Women in the Sacred Laws -- The later law books (1960), also reproduced online at .
4. David Arnold, Peter Robb. Institutions and Ideologies: A SOAS South Asia Reader. Routledge. p. 65. ISBN 9781136102424.
5. However, in this ritual described by Ibn Fadlan, the slave girl is described as being stabbed to death prior to being burned. See page 19, at James E. Montgomery. "Ibn Fadlan and the Rusiyyah" (PDF). library.cornell.edu. {{cite web}}: External link in |author= (help)
6. "Encyclopaedia Indica: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh", by S. S. Shashi, p. 196
7. "Bhagwan Swaminarayan's Life: Biography — Uplift of Women". Swaminarayan.org. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
8. S. S. Shashi. Encyclopaedia Indica. pp. 200–204. ISBN 9788170418597.
9. Other references than Yang are made explicit in the text below, Yang re-referred as main source at points where unclarity of referencing would ensue. For Yang's full discussion back and forth, see Yang, Anand A.; Sarkar, Sumit (ed.); Sarkar, Tanika (ed.) (2008). "Whose Sati?Widow-Burning in early Nineteenth Century India". Women and Social Reform in Modern India: A Reader. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. pp. 21–23. ISBN 9780253352699. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
10. Sashi, S.S. (1996). Encyclopaedia Indica: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Vol. 100. Anmol Publications. p. 115. ISBN 9788170418597.
11. On attested Rajput practice, see, for example Leslie, Julia; Arnold, David (ed.); Robb, Peter (ed.) (1993). "Suttee or Sati: Victim or Victor?". Institutions and Ideologies: A SOAS South Asia Reader. Vol. 10. London: Routledge. p. 46. ISBN 9780700702848. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
12. Yang, Anand A.; Sarkar, Sumit (ed.); Sarkar, Tanika (ed.) (2008). "Whose Sati?Widow-Burning in early Nineteenth Century India". Women and Social Reform in Modern India: A Reader. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. pp. 21–22. ISBN 9780253352699. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
13. Although Yang does not provide a dating for brahminic adoption of sati as pracice, Leslie highlights, for Bengal, the period 1680-1830 CE, Leslie, Julia; Arnold, David (ed.); Robb, Peter (ed.) (1993). "Suttee or Sati: Victim or Victor?". Institutions and Ideologies: A SOAS South Asia Reader. Vol. 10. London: Routledge. p. 46. ISBN 9780700702848. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
14. ^ Central Sati Act - An analysis by Maja Daruwala is an advocate practising in the Delhi High Court. Courtsy: The Lawyers January 1988. The web site is called "People's Union for Civil Liberties"
15. ^ 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. This page maintained by Prof. Frances Pritchett, Columbia University
16. Tavernier's own chapter on sati here, Tavernier, Jean Baptiste; P., J. (tr.) (1678). "2.2.10". The six voyages of John Baptista Tavernier. London: R.L. and M.P. pp. 169–173.
17. To Cherish and to Share: The Goan Christian Heritage Paper presented at the 1991 Conference on Goa at the University of Toronto by: John Correia Afonso S.J. from: "South Asian Studies Papers", no 9; Goa: Goa Continuity and Change; Edited by Narendra K. Wagle and George Coelho; University of Toronto Centre for South Asian Studies 1995
18. Shashi, S.S. (1996). Encyclopaedia Indica: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh. Vol. 100. Anmol Publications. p. 118. ISBN 9788170418597.
19. In his well known pamphlet, India’s Cries to British Humanity from 1830, missionary James Peggs claimed that the Danish, along with the French and Dutch uniformly refused to accept the custom of sati, in contrast to the British.India's Cries to British Humanity, Relative to the Suttee, Infanticide, British Connexion with Idolatry, Ghaut Murders, and Slavery in India. London: Self-published. 1830. p. 71.
20. Encyclopedia of Hinduism.(2007) Constance A. Jones. Facts on File Inc.
21. Napier, William. (1851) History Of General Sir Charles Napier's Administration Of Scinde. (P. 35). London: Chapman and Hall at books.google.com. Retrieved 10 July 2011
22. PUCL. "Central Sati Act — An analysis". Pucl.org. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
23. Mittra, Sangh; Kumar, Bachchan (2004). Encyclopaedia of Women in South Asia: Nepal. Vol. 6. Gyan Publishing House. p. 200. ISBN 9788178351933.
24. A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1300, by Merle Calvin Ricklefs, on forced treaties, see Wiener, Margaret J. (1995). Visible and Invisible Realms: Power, Magic, and Colonial Conquest in Bali. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 267–268. ISBN 9780226885827.
25. Letter, Panduranga Joshi Kulkarni is a description by a man who stopped his daughter-in-law's suicide. It has been suggested that his motivations were monetary. Women in World History A project of the Center for History and New Media, George Mason University.
26. See Kamat for two examples
27. Primary Sources: Letter, Francois Bernier Women in World History A project of the Center for History and New Media, George Mason University.
28. On hut, p.170, on pit, p.171 Tavernier, Jean Baptiste; P., J. (tr.) (1678). "2.2.10". The six voyages of John Baptista Tavernier. London: R.L. and M.P. pp. 170–171.
29. The Representation of Sati: Four Eighteenth Century Etchings by Baltazard Solvyns, by Robert L. Hardgrave, Jr. The account uses the word "likely".
30. Women In The Sacred Laws by Shakuntala Rao Shastri The later law - Books: Page 24 Some of these included servants. These should probably all be seen as being in the original tradition of anumarana, perhaps a separate article.
31. Genealogy, The Royal House of Shah, Nepal:

    1777 - 1799 H.H. Svasti Sri Giriraj Chakrachudamani Narnarayanetyadi Vividha Virudavali Virajamana Manonnata Shriman Maharajadhiraja Sri Sri Sri Sri Sri Maharaj Rana Bahadur Shah Bahadur Shamsher Jang Devanam Sada Samar Vijayinam, Maharajadhiraja of Nepal. ... m. (first) at Katmandu, 1789, Sri Sri Sri Maharani Raj Rajeshwari Devi (k. by forced sati on the orders of Bhimsen Thapa, on the bank of the Salinadi rivulet, at Sankhu, 5th May 1806)

32. Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership, "Women In Power, 1770-1800" ("1799-1800 and 1802-04 Regent Sri Sri Sri Maharani Raj Rajeshwari Devi of Nepal ... she was imprisoned at Helambu and killed by being forced to commit sati.").
33. Defying blessings of the goddess and the community: Disputes over sati (widow burning) in contemporary India by Masakazu Tanaka. An example in Tamil Sri Lanka.
34. Sharma, Arvind (1988). Sati: Historical and Phenomenological Essays. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. xi. ISBN 9788120804647.
35. ^ The Representation of Sati: Four Eighteenth Century Etchings by Baltazard Solvyns by Robert L. Hardgrave, Jr.
36. Tavernier, Jean Baptiste; P., J. (tr.) (1678). "2.2.10". The six voyages of John Baptista Tavernier. London: R.L. and M.P. p. 171.
37. The Representation of Sati: Four Eighteenth Century Etchings by Baltazard Solvyns, by Robert L. Hardgrave, Jr.
38. Contemporary reference to 1815-1824 numbers: "Burning of Widows in India". The Missionary Herald. 25, 4. Boston: American Board of Comissioners for Foreign Missions: 130–131. 1829. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) These 6632 instances of recorded sati in the period 1815-1824 is discussed by other authors, see for example, Yang, Anand A.; Sarkar, Sumit (ed.); Sarkar, Tanika (ed.) (2008). "Whose Sati?Widow-Burning in early Nineteenth Century India". Women and Social Reform in Modern India: A Reader. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. p. 23. ISBN 9780253352699. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help) In particular, note Yang's objection to naive trust to the numbers reported by the British administration, considering these apparently "hard numbers" as really being "fraught with problems"
39. Sakuntala Narasimhan, Sati: widow burning in India, quoted by Matthew White, "Selected Death Tolls for Wars, Massacres and Atrocities Before the 20th Century", p.2 (July 2005), Historical Atlas of the 20th Century (self-published, 1998-2005).
40. Sakuntala Narasimhan, Sati: widow burning in India
41. Modern History Sourcebook: On Ritual Murder in India, 1829 by William Bentinck Within previously cited statistics from 1815-1824, the year 1816 had 442 reported incidents of sati, the only figure in that statistics on the 400-level
42. The Tradition of Sati Through the Centuries Kamat's potpourri: The Sati System
43. L. C. Nand, Women in Delhi Sultanate, Vohra Publishers and Distributors Allahabad 1989.
44. The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 (No.3 of 1988) on the web site of the Harvard School of Public Health
45. Rajalakshmi, T.K. (February 28 – March 12, 2004). "`Sati' and the verdict". Frontline Magazine, The Hindu. 21 (5).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date format (link)
46. ^ Trial by fire, Communalism Combat, Special Report, February–March 2004 , Volume 10, No.96, Sabrang Communications.
47. ^ Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987. Official text of the Act on Government of India's National Resource Centre for Women (NCRW) Website
48. "No violation of Sati Act, say police". The Hindu. June 6, 2005. Retrieved 2007-11-20.
49. No. 2: Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 National Council for Women, Proposed amendments to the 1987 Sati Prevention Act
50. "This Date in History: Sati in India". Atheism.about.com. 2006-10-04. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
51. ^ "Magisterial inquiry ordered into 'sati' incident". rediff.com. 2002-08-07. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
52. The Times of India, "Woman commits 'sati' in UP village", May 19, 2006.
53. BBC News, "India wife dies on husband's pyre", Aug. 22, 2006.
54. "Woman jumps into husband's funeral pyre". The Times of India. Raipur. October 13, 2008.
55. Vishnu Smriti, 25-14 (available online at sacred-texts.com).
56. Sharma, Ramashraya (1971). A socio-political study of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa (1 ed.). Motilal Banarsidass Publ. pp. 96–8.
57. Pollet, Gilbert (1995). Indian epic values: Rāmāyana and its impact. Peeters Publishers. p. 62. ISBN 90-6831-701-6. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
58. 3.1 Women in Indo-Aryan Societies:Sati this translation is ascribed to Kane References Pages 199-200
59. Compare alternative translation by Griffith:

    1. Let these unwidowed dames with noble husbands adorn themselves with fragrant balm and unguent.

       Decked with fair jewels, tearless, free from sorrow, first let the dames go up to where he lieth.

    Hymn XVIII. Various Deities., Rig Veda, tr. by Ralph T.H. Griffith (1896)
60. O. P. Gupta, "The Rigveda: Widows don’t have to burn", The Asian Age, Oct. 23, 2002, available at Hindu-religion.net.
61. and thus, critically, sati regarded as an essentially voluntary act, the woman afterwards worthy of worship
62. For direct quotation, see p.56, for rest of discussion, consult essay Leslie, Julia; Arnold, David (ed.); Robb, Peter (ed.) (1993). "Suttee or Sati: Victim or Victor?". Institutions and Ideologies: A SOAS South Asia Reader. Vol. 10. London: Routledge. pp. 45–63. ISBN 9780700702848. {{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)
63. "About Lingayat" on lingayat.com
64. Mani, Lata (1998). Contentious Traditions: The Debate on Sati in Colonial India. University of California Press. p. 57.
65. "The Representation of Sati: Four Eighteenth Century Etchings by Baltazard Solvyns" by Robert L. Hardgrave, Jr. Bengal Past and Present, 117 (1998): 57-80.
66. Sharp, J. (2008). "Chapter 6, Can the Subaltern Speak?". Geographies of Postcolonialism. SAGE Publications.
67. "Not available when footnotes constructed". Vivaaha.org. Retrieved 2010-04-23.

Further reading

• 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. Univ of California Press.
• Sangari, K., & Vaid, S. (1981). Sati in Modern India: a report. Economic and Political Weekly, 1284-1288.
• Zechenter, E. M. (1997). In the name of culture: Cultural relativism and the abuse of the individual. Journal of Anthropological Research, 319-347.
• Garzilli, Enrica (August 1997). "First Greek and Latin Documents on Sahagamana and Some Connected Problems (Part 1)". Indo-Iranian Journal. 40 (3).
• Garzilli, Enrica (October 1997). "First Greek and Latin Documents on Sahagamana and Some Connected Problems (Part 2)". Indo-Iranian Journal. 40 (4).
• Hawley, John Stratton, ed. (1994). Sati, the blessing and the curse: the burning of wives in India. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-507774-2.
• Kane, M. P. V. (1953). History of Dharmashastra. Vol. IV. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
• Nand, L. C. (1989). Women in Delhi Sultanate. Allahabad: Vohra Publishers and Distributors.
• Shastri, Shakuntala Rao (1960). Women in the Sacred Laws. The later law books.
• Singh, Nagendra Kr. (2000). Ambedkar on religion. New Delhi: Anmol Publications. ISBN 81-261-0503-8.

External links

• Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987. Official text of the Act on Government of India's National Resource Centre for Women (NCRW)
• Maja Daruwala, A History of Sati Legislation in India, People's Union for Civil Liberties.

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