The Sati / Suttee Custom

There is not a lot of info on this practice on the Net, and a lot of it was contradictory. Here is a rough sketch that will give you some idea of what it was - is? - all about.

Sati or Suttee refers to an age-old custom of burning alive, a newly widowed woman, be she old or young, after her husband's death. The practice is commonly thought to be based upon the legend of the Hindu goddess Sati who threw herself, in her grief, to die upon her husband's funeral pyre. There are arguments that dispute this interpretation of the Sati story.

It was practiced mostly by Hindu people, although there is apparently nothing written in Hindu scripture that either suggests or condones the custom.

There was a lot of tribal conflict in ancient India and so many warring men died in battle, leaving behind them, their defenseless young widows. One interesting suggestion was that these women chose to commit suicide to save themselves from being raped by the invading enemy soldiers who that killed their husbands.

Although suttee has been practiced in India for two thousand years, sources suggest that it originated in European countries such as Greece and Germany.

Suttee was outlawed in India in 1829, but more than 150 years later, that government was forced to admit that, simple as it may be to write laws, it is quite another matter to enforce them.

Sati must not be confused with the equally horrible (and still widespread) practice in India, of burning young brides who are not widows. This is known as dowry killing, and it refers to incidents in which women are murdered by their family-in-law, if insufficient money has been paid to them by her father as dowry.

If a man in India dies an untimely death, his widow must still continue to live with her late husband's family. Many of these widows are blamed for the death of her husband, and they are, albeit no longer burned, mistreated and abused by his relatives. She might choose suicide as escape.

There are other theories as to why Hindu women of old died in their husband's funeral pyre. Perhaps she jumped in to be united in death with the man she loved; perhaps she was lured by a promise of fame and immortality.

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