Sati Pratha was a Hindu custom in which the widow of the dead man immolated herself willingly by sitting on his funeral pyre. The practice of Sati in ancient times was voluntary, but during the medieval period, it might have been forced on some widows. There is no doubt that this custom was inhumane and barbaric, but many “Hindu haters” use this to preach against Hinduism, conveniently ignoring the fact that many other cultures like Greek, German, Slav, Scandinavian, Egyptian, and Chinese also practice it.
Sati Pratha was initially practiced by some royal Kshatriya families mainly but later spread to other castes.
The Meaning Of The Word Sati:
Sati is another name for the goddess Uma, the first wife of Lord Shiva. The word Sati originated from the word “Satya,” which means Truth in Sanskrit. Therefore, the word Sati means “the woman who is truthful” because Sati is a feminine word and is a counterpart of the masculine word Satya.
The term Sati was used by Europeans for the custom. The original term for the practice was Sahamarana, which means dying together.
Different Forms Of Sati Pratha:
Anumarana:
Anumarana or Anugamana refers to the ancient Indian practice of self-immolation by anyone, male or female, with personal loyalty to the deceased who could commit suicide at a loved one’s funeral. It was practiced usually by the widowed wives when they learned of the husband’s death at the battlefield or elsewhere and he had been already cremated. The widow then resolves to remove her life and immolate herself with her husband’s ashes, padukas, or other mementos. The practice of Anumarana is mentioned in Kamasutra. In Mahabharata, there is a mention of Anumarana being practiced by widows of Kshatriyas on rare occasions.
The practice has been described to be prevalent in northern India and had existed before the Gupta Empire. As per custom, the Brahmin women were only permitted to die by Sahamarana and were not allowed the right of Anumarana; however, non-Brahmin women could decide to immolate themselves both by sahamarana or anumarana. Anumarana was not comparable to later understandings of the practice of Sati, as in this widows did not self-immolate in the funeral pyre of her husband. When a widow immolated herself with her husband’s dead body, it was called Sahamarana or Sahagamana.
Jauhar:
Jauhar, sometimes spelled Jowhar or Juhar, was a Hindu (Rajput) practice of mass self-immolation by women, or otherwise, execution by their husbands, fathers, or brothers, in India, to avoid capture, enslavement, and rape by an invading Islamic army, when facing certain defeat during a war. The practice of Jauhar was limited to Rajputs only. In the Sati Pratha, mostly a single woman used to burn herself, but in Jauhar, many Rajput women used to jump into the burning pyres when they were sure that their husbands had lost in a war. This was done mainly to save their chastity from Islamic invaders who used to rape the captured women. In some incidences, the dead bodies of Hindu women were also desecrated by some soldiers. Therefore, these women preferred to commit suicide by burning themselves.
How Was Sati Performed?
The practice varied from region to region. The widow would dress as a newlywed bride with beautiful ornaments on her body. Then she would bid farewell to her relatives and acquaintances and distribute her jewelry among them. In some instances, it was found that the widow sat on the funeral pyre with the head of her dead husband on her lap or sometimes lying down next to the dead body. Sometimes, the woman would walk or jump into the lit pyre. Some say the widow would light the pyre herself, while some reports say others lit the pyre.
In some communities, the widow was buried alive with her dead husband. The 18th-century Flemish painter Frans Balthazar Solvyns provided the only known eyewitness account of an Indian Sati involving a burial. Solvyns states that the custom included the woman shaving her head, and the event was guarded by East India Company soldiers. He expressed admiration for the Hindu woman but also calls the custom barbaric.
Which Women Were Not Allowed To Perform Sati?
There were certain situations in which the women were not allowed to perform Sati voluntarily or involuntarily. These are as follows:
1. If a woman is pregnant.
2. If a woman has the responsibility of young children.
3. If a woman is unchaste.
Origin of Sati Pratha:
There is no solid evidence to prove when exactly did this practice start, but most probably, it has its roots in a Puranic story. There are many versions of this story.
Goddess Sati was an incarnation of Goddess Shakti who was born as a daughter of Prajapati Daksha. As Goddess Shakti was part of Lord Shiva, he became sad and started wandering in the universe after separating from her. When Sati attained the age of marriage, she was naturally attracted to Lord Shiva, who was a wanderer and did not practice the customs of the so-called society.
Prajapati Daksha wanted a well-cultured husband for her daughter, but he was helpless before his daughter and allowed her to marry Lord Shiva after some resistance. But this, in turn, fueled his anger for Lord Shiva. Daksha was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu and had gotten a boon from him that he would protect him under any circumstances. This boon had increased his ego and therefore he did not consider Lord Shiva a god.
Once he arranged a big yajna and invited all the gods except Lord Shiva and Goddess Sati. Lord Shiva was aware of it but did not pay heed to it, but when Goddess Sati came to know about it, she was infuriated, especially because it was a big insult to her husband, whom he loved a lot. So, she reached the venue where the yajna was being performed and had a furious argument with her father. There also Daksha insulted Lord Shiva in front of all the gods and sages. For some unknown reason, no other god or goddess tried to stop him. Goddess Sati was powerful enough to kill Daksha, but she could not do it as he was her father.
Thinking that a Pativrata Hindu woman would prefer death to tolerate the insult of her husband and because of the uncontrolled rage she experienced, Goddess Sati immolated herself with her yogic powers and turned into ashes. But she cursed her father with total annihilation before she did so.
Lord Shiva sent Veerbhadra and Bhadrakali to the venue, who destroyed the yajna and killed Daksha.
Goddess Sati was reborn as Goddess Parvati afterward and married Lord Shiva.
How Must Sati Pratha Have Started?
I think the root reason behind this custom was not allowing widows to be remarried, and to some extent, excessive love of wives toward their husbands.
Since ancient times, widow marriage is prohibited in Hinduism. Some Hindus argue against this and give examples of Mandodari, Ulupi, etc., but all these women who remarried were non-Aryan women. Mandodari was from the Asura clan, and Ulupi was Naga by birth. Even if we assume them to be Aryans, there are very few examples of them as such. Most of the Hindu scriptures are against the marriage of a widow.
1. Per Garuda Purana, Ch. XCV, ”A girl should be given only once in marriage”.
2. Kurma Purana (II.17.14) says, “One should particularly avoid the food served by a widowed woman who has remarried”.
The list is very long and the remarriage of a widow is highly discouraged.
Therefore, the husband of a woman was everything to her. He was next to god. The husband is called “Pati Parmeshwar,” even now also. Therefore, most of the Hindu women at that time were highly chaste and loved their husbands more than their lives. If unfortunately, someone’s husband died, she must have found her life meaningless and had preferred to die with him.
Apart from this, it is believed that the woman who burns herself on the funeral pyre of her husband attains the status of a goddess. It not only cleans her sins but her husband’s sins also and they go to heaven. Some people also believed that that woman must have done some sins in her past life and that is why she became a widow.
So, if one widow prefers to die along with her husband and another does not, then people would say she did not love her husband as much as the other woman did. Therefore, some widows must have felt some social pressure to die along with their husbands.
Sati Pratha In The Hindu Religious Texts:
There are some verses in the Vedas, which some scholars believe encourage Sati custom while others believe that it is a mistranslation.
Rig Veda:
The most controversial verses are 10.18.7 and 10.18.8.
इ॒मा नारी॑रविध॒वाः सु॒पत्नी॒राञ्ज॑नेन स॒र्पिषा॒ सं वि॑शन्तु । अ॒न॒श्रवो॑ऽनमी॒वाः सु॒रत्ना॒ आ रो॑हन्त॒ं जन॑यो॒ योनि॒मग्रे॑ ॥
इमा नारीरविधवाः सुपत्नीराञ्जनेन सर्पिषा सं विशन्तु । अनश्रवोऽनमीवाः सुरत्ना आ रोहन्तु जनयो योनिमग्रे ॥
“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 pyre, tearless without any affliction and well adorned.”
Some scholars say that this verse encourages the widow to burn herself on the pyre of her husband, but this is not true because this worse talks about the women who are married and whose husbands are alive. Then why does the poet say so?
When a woman becomes a widow, the married women living around her house approach to console her. The same thing is mentioned here.
The above confusing picture becomes clear in this verse.
उदी॑र्ष्व नार्य॒भि जी॑वलो॒कं ग॒तासु॑मे॒तमुप॑ शेष॒ एहि॑ । ह॒स्त॒ग्रा॒भस्य॑ दिधि॒षोस्तवे॒दं पत्यु॑र्जनि॒त्वम॒भि सं ब॑भूथ ॥
उदीर्ष्व नार्यभि जीवलोकं गतासुमेतमुप शेष एहि । हस्तग्राभस्य दिधिषोस्तवेदं पत्युर्जनित्वमभि सं बभूथ ॥
“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.”
From his dead hand, I take the bow to be carried, that it may be our power and might and glory.
There art thou, there; and herewith noble heroes may we overcome all hosts that fight against us.
Per some scholars, it is evidence of the remarriage of widows. According to Romila Thapar, in the Vedic period, the practice of Sati seems to have been symbolic, as is evident from the remarriage of widows, with the widow performing a “symbolic self-immolation at the death of her husband,” as a status sign. In later times, a variant reading of the Veda turned this symbolic practice into the practice of a widow burning herself with her husband.
Therefore, the Vedas do not support the practice of Sati.
Hindu Scriptures That Support The Practice Of Sati:
Some Hindu religious texts encourage this practice. Most of these are Smriti scriptures and hence are less authoritative than the Vedas.
“A woman who enters the funeral pyre along with her husband shall uplift him even if it is a Brahmana-slayer, an ungrateful fellow, or one defiled by great sins. Learned men know this to be the greatest expiation for women.
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 pyre with her husband also goes to heaven.
Brahma Purana:
“It is the highest duty of the woman to immolate herself after her husband.” [ Br.P. 80.75 ] [ Sheth, p.103 ]
“She [ the Sati ] lives with her husband in heaven for as many years as there are pores in the human body, i.e., for 35 million years.” — [ Br.P. 80.76, 80.77 ] [ Sheth 103 ]
Sati Pratha In Smritis:
Brihaspati Smriti:
“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.”
Daksha Smriti:
“A Sati who dies on the funeral pyre of her husband enjoys eternal bliss in heaven.”
If a woman follows her departed lord, by burning herself on the same funeral pyre, she will dwell in heaven for as many years as there are hairs on the human frame, — which reach the number of three crores and a half.
But it was not mandatory. The scriptures also say that if a woman remains chaste after the death of her husband, she attains a place in heaven.
Sloka 160, Chapter 5, Manu Smriti:
“A virtuous wife who after the death of her husband constantly remains chaste, reaches heaven, though she has no son, just like those chaste men.”
Parashara Smriti:
If a woman has led a continent life, after her lord departed this life, she wins a region of bliss after her death, like the well-known male observers of a celibate life.
History of Sati Pratha:
In the Ramayana:
Goddess Sita was Vedavati in her past life. Her mother burnt herself on the pyre of her husband.
“While my father was asleep during the night, the evil one killed him. My distressed mother embraced my father’s head. With him, the immensely fortunate one entered the funeral pyre.” – Chapter 7 [Uttara-kāṇḍa] – Sarga 17
Incidences of Sati in the Mahabharata:
1. Madri, the second wife of Pandu, performed Sati after his death, but Kunti did not. It proves that this custom was voluntary and not compulsory.
2. The four wives of Vasudeva were said to have committed Sati after his death.
3. Karna’s wife Brushala/Padmavati ran toward his funeral pyre and burnt herself.
4. After the death of Lord Krishna, his five wives led by Rukmini performed Sati, while the other three wives led by Satyabhama went to the Himalayas and took Sanyasa.
Of note, the incidences of Sati in the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are rare. Most of the widows preferred to remain alive and spend their lives in the devotion of gods. Also, no one forced them to cut their hair or abandon eating good food. Most of these evil practices started in the medieval period.
How Old Is The Sati Pratha?
Per historians, Ramayana was written around 5 BCE, and the Mahabharatha around 3 BCE. So the history of Sati Pratha dates back to at least 5 BCE. If we believe traditional Hindu views, then it dates back to at least 10,000 BCE.
Also, when there was a cold war going on between Buddhism and Hinduism, there is no evidence that any Buddhist criticized this practice which proves that it was not a widespread practice at that time.
Greek Documentation of Sati Practice:
The first-ever recorded and eyewitness account of Sati is somewhere during 316 BCE, when one of the two wives of Keteus, a general, had immolated herself after Keteus had died fighting against Antigonos. It is said that both of the wives were extremely anxious to immolate themselves, and ultimately, since the elder queen was with her child, the younger wife was permitted to immolate herself.
It is believed that the first instance of Sati came around 3 century BC when Alexander and his troops show that after the death of one of their continents leader Shashigupta, his two wives started fighting about who would immolate herself, and Diodorus Siculus wrote down that – Indiana favors love marriage, both young men and women choose their partner and not by parents agreement but some wives become sour and for extramarital affairs they give poison to their husband and elope with a new lover, this case becomes rampant and practice to burn widow started to stop the death of husband!!!
(Source: https://www.quora.com/How-widespread-was-the-practice-of-Sati)
Other Incidents of Sati Practice:
Some travelers like Al Biruni (973-1048 CE) and Ibn Battuta (b. 1304 CE) and many others who traveled to India have mentioned Sati being performed publicly.
In 1724, upon the death of Rajput king Ajit Singh of Marwar, his 63 wives also burnt themselves on his pyre.
When Raja Budh Singh died, his 84 wives became Sati.
One of the wives of King Shivaji performed Sati after 85 days after his death. Her name was Putalabai.
When Jijabai, the mother of Shivaji Maharaj, decided to go Sati after Shahaji Raje’s death, Shivaji Maharaj prevented her from doing so.
Muslim Rulers Who Tried To Abolish Sati Custom:
1. Muhammad bin Tughlak was the first Muslim king who tried to stop Sati. He made it mandatory to obtain a license to burn the widow.
2. Humayun prohibited the practice completely but retracted his order fearing the wrath of God.
3. Akbar tried to stop the forced Sati cases but did not stop those who wishfully burned themselves. He even offered gifts and land to the widows to discourage them from performing Sati (Book “Sati: The Blessing and the Curse: The Burning of Wives in India” by John Stratton Hawley).
He appointed men to prevent forceful Sati practice and intervened personally to stop women from going Sati (“Sati as Social Institution and the Mughals” by Chaudhary).
4. Jahangir prohibited the practice but did not enforce it strictly.
5. Aurangazeb also banned the practice, but the practice continued even after prohibition.
So, we can see many Muslim kings tried to stop the practice but were unsuccessful. Other than the Muslim rulers, some European rulers also stopped it in their territories. Portuguese Governor Alburquerque banned it in 1515 in Goa. Dutch and French rulers also banned it in Hugli-Chuchura and Puddicheri.
Abolishment of Sati Pratha By the British:
The first formal ban on the Sati system by the British was imposed in 1798 but only in Calcutta. Even after the ban, the practice continued. The stiff opposition by the social reformer, Raja Ram Mohan Roy and some Christian missionaries finally led then Governor-General Lord William Bentick in banning the Sati Pratha in all British India on December 4, 1829.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy’s Efforts to Abolish the Sati Pratha:
Raja Ram Mohan Roy is termed the Father of the Indian Renaissance. He was a great reformer and the founder of Brahmo Sabha.
In 1811, he witnessed his sister-in-law being burned alive on her husband’s funeral pyre. It is believed that this incident shocked him from the roots, and he decided to concentrate his efforts on eradicating the practice of Sati. Perhaps, he was the first Indian to protest against this custom. Raja Ram Mohan Roy advocated that this was completely against women’s right to live in society as human beings.
He studied the Hindu scriptures and found that nowhere it is mentioned for women to go Sati after their husbands’ deaths. Thus, he challenged the age-old evil practice of Sati. He tried his level best to stop and ban this custom of Sati. He tried a lot to enlighten people enlighten against the Sati system. Many orthodox Hindus opposed him, but he did not pay heed to them. Together with some Christian missionaries, he requested the government repeatedly to abolish the practice legally. It was because of his efforts that the British Government finally abolished it.
In 1830, Raja Ram Mohan Roy traveled to the United Kingdom as an ambassador of the Mughal Empire to ensure that Lord William Bentinck’s Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829 banning the practice, of Sati was not overturned.
Roop Kanwar Case – The Last Known Incident Of Sati In India:
On September 4, 1987, Roop Kanwar, a Rajput woman in Deorala Village of Rajasthan, burnt herself along with her dead husband on his funeral pyre. This incident was witnessed by thousands of people who did not try to prevent her from doing so. It was accused that the villagers encouraged/forced her, but it seems less likely. The court also exonerated all the accused.
Roop Kanwar was 18 years old and was married for just eight months to Maal Singh Shekhawat, who died suddenly due to an unknown illness. After his death, she decided to perform Sati. Her decision was upheld with high honor by her relatives and the locals. On the day of committing Sati, she dressed up like a newlywed bride, sat on the funeral pyre of her husband, and kept his head on her lap. Then she recited Gayatri Mantra before submitting herself to the fire.
People hailed her as Sati-Mata (mother Sati). A small temple was raised in her memory after her death.
The incident shocked the whole country, and the Government of Rajasthan passed an ordinance called Sati (Prevention) Act. Later on, the Government of India passed The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987.
Sati Stones:
Sati stones are the monuments raised by the relatives of the widow who performed Sati to praise her courage. These are found in many parts of India, including but not limited to Karnataka, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Kashmir.
Some of these stones bear the imprints of the widow’s palm. Some have statues engraved on them. In most of the stones, a female is shown with her palm in the Varadahasta pose.
Statistics:
As this custom might be thousands of years old, it is not possible to figure out exactly how many women might have performed Sati, but there are some statistics available, especially from British India.
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.
The Reverend William Ward, a Baptist missionary at Serampore, near Calcutta, and a contemporary of Solvyns, recounts his witness of the practice (which he terms suhu-murunu ), as well as reported instances in the area of Calcutta. William Carey, the famed author of the Dictionary of the Bengali Language and Ward’s colleague at the Serampore Mission, undertook a census in 1803 of suttees and counted 438 that had reportedly taken place that year within a 30-mile radius of Calcutta. [10]
(Source: https://www.laits.utexas.edu/solvyns-project/Satiart.rft.html)
The number of recorded burnings that occurred in 1815 was 378 and tripled to 839 in 1818 (Hawley 21). Traditionally, Sati was performed by higher caste women; a study was completed to prove this phenomenon. In 1823 an investigation into the tradition proved that 64 percent of these events were “predominant among the brahmins (teachers), Kayasthas (warriors/rulers), vaidyas (farmers/merchants)” (Mani 22).
(Source: http://www.mahavidya.ca/2008/04/15/the-tradition-of-Sati/)
Even after the pan-Indian ban in 1829, the custom continued, but the number of cases reduced significantly. According to a report in India Today, at least 30 cases of Sati have been recorded in the country from 1943 to 1987. After 1987, there were some incidents in which some women tried to perform Sati, but they were timely intervened and prevented.
Sati Pratha Outside India:
Jorg Fisch and Dorothy Stein claim that the Sati custom was also practiced in different parts of the world such as Greek, Egypt, China, Finland, and some American Indians.
The early 14th-century CE traveler of Pordenone mentions “wife burning” in Zampa (Champa), in nowadays south/central Vietnam. Anant Altekar states that Sati spread with Hindu migrants to Southeast Asian islands, such as Java, Sumatra, and Bali. According to Dutch colonial records, this was however a rare practice in Indonesia, one found in royal households.
In Cambodia, both the lords and the wives of a dead king voluntarily burnt themselves in the 15th and 16th centuries. According to a European traveler’s account, in the 15th century Mergui, in present-day extreme south Myanmar, widow burning was practiced. A Chinese pilgrim from the 15th century seems to attest to the practice on islands called Ma-i-tung and Ma-i (possibly Belitung (outside Sumatra) and Northern Philippines, respectively).
According to the historian, K.M. de Silva, Christian missionaries in Sri Lanka with a substantial Hindu minority population, reported, “There were no glaring social evils associated with the indigenous religions-no Sati, (…). There was thus less scope for the social reformer. However, although Sati was non-existent in the colonial era, earlier Muslim travelers such as Sulaiman al-Tajir reported that Sati was optionally practiced, which a widow could choose to undertake.
In the history of Nepal, the Changu pillar inscription of 464 CE mentions the custom of Sati.
What Might Have Aggravated The Sati Problem?
As we have seen, the Sati custom was initially limited to Kshatriayas mainly, but afterward, it spread to a larger section of society in the medieval period and was even forced upon some widows. Although no one could say anything with certainty, the main reason behind this could be the decreased morality among people and external invasions.
1. Promiscuity:
In the Hindu culture, the chastity of a woman is given the highest importance. There must be many women who became widows at an early age. It is possible that some of them might have indulged in promiscuity. Therefore, some families might have thought that it was best to burn the widow along with the dead husband. After some time, this might have turned into a social custom.
2. External Invasions:
India had been under constant attack by external invaders like Greeks, Huns, Shaks, Muslims, etc. Many Hindus claim that the practice of Sati became more frequent because Muslim soldiers used to rape women after their victory over their enemies. Therefore, many chaste Hindu women preferred death and started burning themselves with their dead husbands.
Currently, the Sati Pratha is completely banned in India and the rest of the world.
References:
http://www.wunrn.org/news/2008/09_08/09_15_08/091508_Satihtm.htm
https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1170035
https://myvoice.opindia.com/2021/09/Sati-busting-claims-of-it-being-a-vedic-custom/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice)
https://airccse.com/ijhas/papers/1216ijhas08.pdf