Sati (practice)

The practice of Sati (also sometimes unphonetically written suttee) was a Hindu funeral custom in which the widow immolated herself alive on her husband?s funeral pyre.

Abolition

Sati was explicitly forbidden by many religions of the subcontinent, including Sikhism, as well as in many Hindu traditions. There is no justification in the other native religions of the subcontinent, Jainism and Buddhism. The foreign religions of Islam and Christianity saw it only as a barbarian practice. Attempts to abolish it included outright prohibitions, as well as trying to change the outlook of the Hindu communities in which it was tolerated.

Related Topics:
Sikhism - Jainism - Buddhism - Islam - Christianity

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Many rulers made attempts to control it, and some outright bans occurred historically. The emperor Akbar banned Sati throughout his posssesions. This ban was upheld by some of his successors, including Jehangir and Aurangzeb. Some rulers tried to require evidence of the clear wish of the widow to die, and for permits to be obtained before the practice could be carried out. Many of these rules died out in the periods of social upheaval that followed the collapse of the Mughal empire.

Related Topics:
Akbar - Jehangir - Aurangzeb

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Following social reformer Raja Rammohun Roy's efforts in the form of petitions, writings and the organizing of vigilance committees, the practice of Sati was abolished by law in British India in 1829. It was banned in the Bengal Presidency on December 4, 1829, and in other "company"-ruled lands shortly after.

Related Topics:
Raja - Rammohun Roy - British India - 1829 - Bengal Presidency - December 4 - "company"-ruled

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Beyond a general divide-and-rule strategy, British administration's attitudes toward Indian cultural practices had long been one of indifference so long as profits were undisturbed. Sati was discouraged but in typically sanctimonious style. Sir Charles Napier observed:

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:You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.

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Napier's comments capture both genuine disgust at the practice as well as the condescending British imperial attitude that prevailed for much of their rule. British hypocrisy, given their own history of corporal punishment and ruthless suppression of dissent, was not lost on agitators of the time or later commentators.

Related Topics:
Corporal punishment - Suppression of dissent

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Sati remained legal in some princely states for a time after it had been abolished in lands under British control. The last such state to permit it, Jaipur, banned the practice in 1846.

Related Topics:
Princely states - Jaipur - 1846

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In modern India, there have been various fresh measures passed against the practice. These now include efforts to stop the 'glorification' of the dead women. This prohibition includes the erection of shrines to the dead, the encouragement of pilgrimages to the site of the pyre, and the derivation of any income from such sites and pilgrims.

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Modern Indian law declares it a crime to participate in the act in any way, and makes no distinction between passive observers to the act, and active promoters of the event; all are supposed to be held equally culpable.

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