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.

Origin

Few reliable records exist of the practice before the time of the Gupta empire, approximately 400 CE. While sati is described in the Mahabharata and other works that may be considered at least partly historical accounts, it is known that large parts of these works are relatively late interpolations into an original story.

Related Topics:
Gupta empire - 400 - Mahabharata

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There is an early Greek account of the practice however. This describes an account of an Indian soldier in Persia, whose two wives vied to die on his funeral pyre, in 316 BCE.

Related Topics:
Greek - Persia - 316

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Voluntary death at funerals has been described in northern India before the Gupta empire. The original practices were called anumarana, and were not common. They were not necessarily practices that would be understood as sati at present, since it was not necessarily a widow who died. Those who died could be anyone, male or female with a personal loyalty to the dead person. They included other relatives of the dead person, servants, followers or friends. Sometimes these deaths were because of vows of loyalty taken in life.

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Widow burning, the practice as understood today, started to become more extensive after about 500 CE, and the end of the Gupta empire. This is sometimes ascribed to the decline of Buddhism in India, the rise of caste based societies, and the idea that sati was used to reinforce caste status. There are also suggestions that the practice was introduced into India by invaders who contributed to the fall of the Gupta empire. These invaders are usually called the Huna in India.

Related Topics:
500 - Buddhism - Caste - Huna

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At about this time, instances of sati began to be marked by inscribed memorial stones. The earliest of these is in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, though the largest collections are some centuries later, in Rajasthan. These stones, called devli, or sati-stones, became shrines where the dead woman became an object of reverence and worship. They are most common in western India.

Related Topics:
Sagar - Madhya Pradesh - Rajasthan

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By about the 10th century sati, as understood today, was known across much of the subcontinent. It continued to occur, usually at a low frequency and with regional variations, until the early 19th century. It has continued to occur occasionally to the present day.

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