Sati: A woman's sacrifice!

Warning: This section deals with the controversial topic of suicide. It merely is a study of a social practice and it does not mean I endorse the Sati system. In fact, I think of this practice abhorring and inhuman. I digressed from continuing writing about Draupadi to share this ancient practise as it is referred to in the Mahabharatha. I want to share with you the origins of this practise. I have also related a personal experience with regards to violence towards women at the end of this piece.


A Woman Goes Sati

The Sati (Su-thi , a.k.a. suttee) is the traditional Hindu practice of a widow immolating herself on her husband's funeral pyre. Sati was prevalent among certain sects of the society in ancient India, who either took the vow or deemed it a great honor to die on the funeral pyres of their husbands. I have found some interesting illustrations on the web which I thought would add more relevance to this practise.

The Mahasati (the great Sati) or the Sahagamana (joint departure) system of cremating the woman alive on the death of her husband is an ancient custom in India. Scholars of Puranas(ancient hindu vedic scripts) trace the origins to the suicide of Satidevi in the Yajnakunda (sacrificial fireplace) of Lord Brahma (Three headed god or The Creator), while a few attribute it to the pre-caste Vedic system of Indian society. In Mahabharatha, there is the instance of Madri dying on the funeral pyre of husband Pandu, leaving the children to the care of the first wife Kunti. The feminists proclaim the Sati system as a cruel institution established by men against the womankind, while the lower-caste in India have felt it as another means of torture taxed on them by the upper-caste Brahmins (a fact I entirely agree).

The answer to the complex question of how Sati system originated is perhaps all of them:

• Burning the wife along with the attendants, horses and carriages of the the dead dignitary was a common practice among come Central Asian tribes. India being the melting pot of good and bad social systems of its constituent cultures, the custom of Sati was absorbed.
• In a time which believed that a woman's path to heaven is though Sheela and Pativritya -- her character, and devotion to her husband, it was perhaps thought that a woman's life served no purpose after the death of her husband.
• It might have come into practice as an evil family conspiracy against the widow to benefit from her assets and gold.
• The life of a widow was so bad (this has continued to this day in India), the women perhaps favored death to humiliation.
• The women who went Sati were glorified to no avail. The entice of instant fame and immortality cannot be ruled out on why women committed Sati.
• There is another suicide tradition in the Jain religion called Sallekhana, where one dedicated one's soul in prayer. Despite of this tradition, numerous instances in Indian history illustrate when a Jain woman has preferred Sati over Sallekhana -- especially in the cases of untimely deaths of the husband.
• Some women believed that those who died with the love of their life, were united with the man in heaven in an eternal marriage. Numerous women believed that they have married the same man in several of their lives. There is an interesting instance of a wife who went Sati with another man (not her husband), because of her belief that he was the one.
• In Bengal, a system called Däyabhaga prevailed entitling a woman equal property along with male members of the departed husband. This may be the reason for the Sati system being more popular in that region, wherein the woman was driven to commit Sati by force.
• There are numerous occasions when the woman experiences a divine calling and decided to commit Sati.

In Modern India, the practise of Sati was abolished. Re-marriage amongst women is still a taboo and in the past 40 years, widows were treated very badly. The emergence of dowry system could also be a side effect of Sati where families plot to take the worldly possessions of the bride and her family. In the end, the poor bride has to pay with her life. Hence the term "Dowry Deaths".

As late as 1950's, in post-independence India, this practise was prevelant. The rational being that a widow has nothing left for her in this world. There was no scope of re-marriage, she has to wear white all her life, she cant enter temples, she has to live as a begger to her family because her own parents used to think she was a curse and a burden. Imagine, with that kind of pressure for the rest of your life, you would think jumping into a burning fire seems like a painful end.

These attitudes exist in the lower strata of the society where education is not prevalent. Education is the key to eradicate such ancient and inhuman practises.