An Essay on the Indian Tradition of Wife Burning
Posted by Sukhwant Singh Chawla on Sunday, 7/26/1998 3:44 PM MDT

SATI OR SUTTEE by Debbie Hodson SATI was committed by God Krisna's wives on the death of Hindu God Krisna. Sati is the term used of the woman, and never of the right. Suttee is the term for the act itself (Thompson, 1928, pg. 16). According to Encarta Concise Encyclopedia, suttee is a practice of a widow burning herself on the funeral pyre, either with the body of her husband or, if he had died away from her, separately (http://encarta.msn.com/index/concise/0VOL02/0031c000.asp). Sati has now come to be known as widow burning. In the original sense, it meant a virtuous or pious woman. The word sati comes from sat, meaning truth. A sati was a woman who was "true to her ideals" (Narasimhan 1990, pg. 11). Indian tradition says the highest ideals for a woman are chastity, purity, and loyalty to her husband, which is pavirata. Knowing this, it is no wonder that a woman would give up her life on the death of her husband as proof of chastity or the ultimate expression of a wife's fidelity. For the traditionalist, sati epitomizes wifely devotion, a woman bonded to her husband, a woman who goes wherever her husband goes, and even death is not an obstacle to their union. The modernists, such as feminist writers and political leaders, see sati as the "squalid waste of human life that traditional values can countenance" (Hawley 1994, pg. 28). Sati is about women, patriarchy, violence, religious symbolism, and the division between what is tradition and what is modern. There has not been an anthropologist who has studied a woman who was cremated with her husband's corpse. No one has spoken to a woman before the fact about her own feelings, understandings, motivations, and actions to determine whether she is acting out of free choice. The reason for this is because satis are rare, illegal, and take place with no advance notice. Sati also does not display itself in the open. The information that is available to us is from traces left behind, such as mythological texts, traveler's accounts, and/or from colonial officials who had witnessed a sati. There are also shrines to goddesses whose divinity was conferred on them from undergoing sati. For studying purposes, we only have representations of sati, not access to the act itself (Hawley 1994, pg. 28) There are different views of what a woman is or what she has committed after the act of sati. Some believe a woman becomes a goddess, worthy to be respected by the witnessing community. The woman who became a goddess would be one who entered the funeral pyre out of pure devotion to her husband and had confidence in the reality of rebirth. On the other hand, some feel sati is an act of suicide because such thoughts of fortitude and devotion are not possible for women on their own. Finally, it may be an act of murder at the hands of the surrounding mob (Hawley 1994, pg. 29). THE TRADITIONAL SATI The original sati of mythology was not a widow and did not immolate herself on her husband's funeral pyre. Sati was the daughter of Daksha, son of Brahma, and the creator of the universe. Sati was married to Shiva. At one time, Daksha wanted to perform a grand sacrificial ceremony. He invited everyone except his son-in-law whom he wanted to humiliate. Sati was very outraged at this insult to her husband and invoked a fire and was reduced to ashes (Narasimhan 1990, pg. 11). In some versions of the story, Sati prays she will be reborn as Parvati and become Shiva's spouse again. The gods realized that the marriage of Parvati and Shiva would help them by the birth of Karttikeya, the great god of war (http://www.ibm.park.org/parvati.html). In other versions, Shiva takes Sati's corpse from the fire and carries it on his shoulder across the world, which shows her body had certainly not been consumed by fire, but was totally intact (Hawley 1994 pg. 51). The giving up of her body voluntarily in a fiery immolation was defined as a "divine example of wifely devotion" (Narasimhan 1990, pg. 11). This has been misinterpreted into a belief which says that if a woman gives her body up by burning, like the original Sati, she deserves to be venerated and honored (Narasimhan 1990, pg.11) One may wonder whether the traditional Sati of the Daksha/Shiva legend had any connections with the use of the term sati for the practice of widow burning. The cause of Sati's self-destruction had nothing to do with an idea of rejoining her dead husband in heaven because her husband, Shiva, was alive (Hawley 1994, pg 50). What seems more believable is that the name for the practice came from the basic meaning of sati as a "chaste woman and virtuous wife" (Hawley 1994 pg. 50). The only way for a woman to keep her status after her husband had died was to join her husband on the funeral pyre. Then the term sati for a virtuous woman was applied to the act that enabled a woman to remain a pavirata (Hawley 1994 pg. 50). All the actions of a woman should be the same as that of her husband. If her husband is happy, she should be happy, if he is sad she should be sad, and if he is dead she should also die. Such a wife is call pavirata (Narasimhan 1990 pg. 11). Pavirata is total dedication to the husband, and was set out by Hindu scriptures as the wifely ideal. This was a wife whose only concern was to properly perform everything the husband demanded of her. Her only joy in life was the satisfaction of her husband. Such a woman was attached to her husband even after he died, for she could never think of taking a second husband (Lebra & Paulson & Everett 1984, pg. 26) WHY COMMIT SATI? Rani Devi, a Jat woman, said that Roop Kanwar's act of sati was good only because if she had been alive, her life as a Rajput widow would have been hell. She could not have remarried, she could not have worn jewellry or good clothes, she could not have eaten good food, she would have had to stay indoors for the rest of her life. As such she would not have been allowed to participate in any happy occasion, ceremonies or rituals of the family. Therefore it was better for her to have chosen death --Vishal Mangalwadi, The Indian Express, 19 September 1987 (Narashimhan 1990 pg. 28) Morally and intellectually, women were held to be inferior and weak. Marriage and motherhood were their only goals. For the pavirata, there could be no existence apart from that of the husband. Widowhood is the worst calamity that could ever happen to a woman. This became the ultimate degradation because it invalidated the woman's continued existence. If a woman who became a widow continued to exist, it was a miserable existence with social, economic, and religious injunctions against her. Widows were considered inauspicious. They were barred from festivities and were forbidden all comforts and pleasures. Even laughter and entertainment were taboo. A widow was led to believe that her life had come to an end with the death of her husband (Narasimhan 1990, pg. 36). A widow is allowed only one meal a day, she had to wear only white, and sleeps on the ground on a kusa grass mat. If a widow slept on a cot, her husband would rot in hell (Narasimhan 1990 pg. 37). Under Hindu customary law, marriage was a sacrament with stricter obligations for women than for men. A widow was considered ritually polluting. She was supposed to shave her head, wear rags, work more, and eat less than anyone else in the household (Lebra & Paulson & Everett 1984, pg. 26). A widow's life span was considered to be a waiting period, which should be spent in prayer so that when she dies she might be reunited with her husband in the after life. Under these circumstances, it is hardly surprising that a woman often burned herself along with her husband's corpse (Narasimhan 1990 pg. 37). SATI IS A CRIME NOW ONLY IN LAW BOOKS In December of 1812, official regulation on sati announced a widow was to be permitted to immolate herself in cases in which it was "countenance by (her) religion" (Narasimhan 1990, pg. 62). She could commit sati if she was over 16 years of age and her decision to burn was voluntary. A pregnant woman was not allowed to burn. This was construed as an authorization for widow burnings. The following statistics followed this regulation (Narasimhan 1990, pg. 63): Year 1821 181522 # of cases of sati In 1817, a new law was that the family of the widow was obligated to tell the police if the widow was contemplating immolation. Under this order, the magistrate could sentence offenders to imprisonment and a fine. The penalties for these violations were not spelt out, but left to the discretion of the individual magistrates. The families did not do this, nor were they punished. Just a few incidents occurred where the threat of fine and imprisonment stopped planned immolation (Narasimhan 1990 pg. 63). Rammohum Roy, a wealthy Brahmin intellectual of Bengal, had been shocked by the immolation of his brother's wife. He had tried to stop it to no avail. Rammohum Roy started a public crusade against widow burning. In 1818, he published pamphlets pleading for the abolition of sati. At the time of the publication of these pamphlets on sati, an average of one widow was being burnt to death every day in Calcutta alone (Narasimhan 1990 pg. 68). On November 8, 1829, Lord Bentinck, who was governor-general, issued official minutes in which he observed that "to consent to the consignment year after year of hundreds of innocent victims to a cruel and untimely end where the power exists of preventing it, is a predicament which no conscience can contemplate without horror?every day's delay adds a victim to the dreadful list which might perhaps have been prevented" (Narasimhan 1990 pg. 69). The Bengal Regulation XVII came into force on December 4, 1829. Under this law, sati became a cognizable, criminal offense punishable with a fine and/or imprisonment. All persons convicted of aiding or abetting in the sacrifice of a Hindu widow, whether voluntary or not, were to be deemed guilty of culpable homicide, and the penalty, fine, or imprisonment was to be at the discretion of the Court (Narasimhan 1990 pg. 69). >From the time when administration started keeping records in 1815 until the time Lord Bentinck abolished the practice in 1829, a total of 7,941 widows had burned in the province of Bengal alone (Narasimhan 1990 pg. 70). By the end of 1846, eleven out of eighteen Rajput states and five others had banned sati. Stray cases of widow burning continued to be recorded, including the Roop Kanwar case on September 4, 1987. THE ROOP KANWAR CASE Roop Kanwar was eighteen-years-old. She and her 24-year-old husband, Maal Singh, had been married for less than eight months when he died on the morning of September 3, 1987 of gastroenteritis. On September 4, 1987, Roop Kanwar was dressed in her bridal finery. She walked at the head of the funeral procession to the center of the village. There was a crowd of at least 4,000 people. She ascended the pyre and was reduced to ashes along with the body of her husband. In the eyes of the people, Roop Kanwar had become exhalted and deified as the sati-mata, a goddess (Narasimhan 1990, pg. 2). Even though there were over 4,000 people at this event, people strongly disagree over what actually happened. One account states that Roop Kanwar willed her own death and carried it out with dignity. It is said that she took her husband's head in her hands as she seated herself on the pyre and submitted calmly to the flames (Hawley 1994, pg 7). Those against sati tell the story very differently. According to them, Roop Kanwar's in-laws drugged her into submission and forced her onto the funeral pyre. She tried to escape the pyre as many as three times, but was pushed back on. Roop's in-laws are said to have acted on economic motives as they expected worshipers to make offerings on the occasion of sati and continue their generosity once a sati sthal, shrine, was established on the site of her death (Hawley 1994 pg. 8). Many people were arrested for aiding in Roop Kanwar's immolation. Mal Singh's father was imprisoned plus three other members of his family, including Roop's brother-in-law, Pushpendra Singh, who was accused of lighting the pyre (Narasimhan 1990 pg. 2). There were also villagers who were arrested on suspicion of having conspired in the event. According to the Times of India, on October 13, 1996, "all accused in the infamous case of sati at Deorala village, on September 4, 1987, have been acquitted due to lack of evidence" (http://www.indiaconnect.com/lawdata/dialnn.htm). Today, the practice of sati has died out. In nine years, the Rajasthan authorities could not produce one sworn witness from any of the people who attended Roop Kanwar's cremation. As I said before, Roop Kanwar has been deified by traditionalists in the village where a shrine has earned $15,000 in offerings (http://www.ippf.org/pubs/openfile/feb97/). REFERENCES Hawley, John Stratton ?1994 Sati, the Blessing and the Curse: The Burning of Wives in India. New York, New York. Oxford University Press, Inc. Lebra, Joyce and Paulson, Joy and Everett, Jana ?1984 Women and Work in India: Continuity and Change. New Delhi, India. Promilla & Co. Narasimhan, Sakuntala 1990. 1991.Sati, Widow burning in India. New York. Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Thompson, Edward 1928. 1929.Suttee: A Historical & Philosophical Enquiry into the Hindu Rite of Widow Burning. Boston and New York. Houghton Mifflin Company. WEB SITES REFERENCED http://encarta.msn.com/index/concise/0VOL02/0031c000.asp: Encarta Concise Encyclopedia on Suttee http://www.ibm.park.org/parvati.html: Parvati http://www.ippf.org/pubs/openfile/feb97/: Sati student deified: Newsweek, New York, 2 December 1996. http://www.indiaconnect.com/lawdata/dialnn.htm: Sati Roop Kanwar: ADJ, Neem Ka Thana, Rajasthan; 13/10/96: Times of India http://www.bpe.com/travel/asia/india/jpgs/wall.html: Suttee wall http://www.missionindia.org/glossary/india/: Glossary of IndiaTerms

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