Sati:
Violent Practice or Deification Ritual?
Katie O’Dunne
Ghosts, Demons, and Ancestors
May 10, 2012
1
I. Introduction
On September 4, 1987, an 18-year old woman named Roop Kanwar ascended her
husband’s funeral pyre in the village of Deorala in India, burning alongside him as act of
devotion.1 This particular event created a new interest in the practice known as sati both within
India and in the West. In Sanskrit, sati is a feminine noun meaning a good woman, or a true
wife.2 The term is specifically derived from sat, which means “truth, virtue, or goodness.” 3
However, when used to describe a widow, it means a woman who sacrifices herself on the
funeral pyre for the love of her husband.4 This term, used to merely designate a woman’s fidelity
and chastity within the Hindu religion,5 is a practice of two types of immolation negatively
viewed by Western culture.
According to V.N. Datta, the two types of sati are sahagamana and anumarana.6 In the
case of sahagamana, the husband and the wife die together as she is cremated beside him.7
David Brick refers to this as a “joint departure.”8 In the case of anumarana, on the other hand,
the widow immolates herself without the dead body and uses a relic of her deceased husband.9 In
each of these cases, a woman becomes a sati through acquisition of virtue or goodness and
through three conceptual stages of personal transformation.10 In the first stage, the woman is a
1
Laurens P. Van Den Bosch, "A Burning Question: Sati and Sati Temples as the Focus of Political Interest,"
Numen 37, no. 2 (1990): 174, ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials.
2
V. N. Datta, Sati: A Historical, Social and Philosophical Enquiry into the Hindu Rite of Widow Burning
(Riverdale, MD: Riverdale, 1988), 1.
3
Sharada Sugirtharajah, "Courtly Text and Courting Sati," Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 17, no. 1 (2001):
6, ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials.
4
Datta, Sati: A Historical, Social and Philosophical Enquiry, 1.
5
Singh, Santosh. A Passion for Flames. Jaipur: RBSA Publishers, 1989.
6
Datta, Sati: A Historical, Social and Philosophical Enquiry, 1.
7
Ibid.
8
David Brick, "The Dharmasastric Debate on Widow-Burning," Journal of the American Oriental Society 130, no. 2
(April 2010): 204, ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials.
9
Datta, Sati: A Historical, Social and Philosophical Enquiry, 1.
10
Lindsey Harlan, "Perfection and Devotion: Sati Tradition in Rajasthan," in Sati: The Blessing and the Curse: The
Burning of Wives in India, ed. John Stratton Hawley (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2007), loc. 1133.
2
pativrata, or a devoted wife who attends to her husband’s personal needs and encourages him to
attend to his duties.11 In the second stage, the woman is a sativrata who takes a vrat, or vow, to
join her husband in the afterlife.12 In the third stage, the woman is considered a sahagamini, or
one who goes together with one’s husband. Even if the husband has died before his wife, she is
not blamed for his passing if she burns herself during his cremation ceremony or after it based on
when she learns of his death.13
The word sati has a variety of implications as a person, a practice, and even as the
goddess Sati.14 Along with these implications, it is important to remember that the practice is not
very common. According to Paul B. Courtright, historical evidence suggests that prior to the
British colonial period, instances of immolations were rare and confined to politically elite or
martial classes along India’s border regions, especially Rajputs.15 Veena Talwar Oldenburg
continues with this concept by asserting that after its abolition, there was an initial upsurge of
incidents, but the practice faded and is still rare today.16 Nevertheless, while rare, sati still occurs
as an upper-caste Hindu practice for a virtuous wife.17 Even these rare occurrences are
questioned and viewed negatively by Westerners, who believe satis are “pathetic victims coerced
against their will into the flames.”18 This research paper will examine the way that the traditional
deification of satis in India contrasts the negative perceptions surrounding sati in the
contemporary, non-Indian world. In order to compare these different viewpoints, modern, non 11
Ibid., loc. 1144.
Ibid.
13
Ibid.
14
Sugirtharajah, “Courtly Text and Courting Sati,” 6.
15
Paul B. Courtright, "Sati, Sacrifice, and Marriage: The Modernity of Tradition," in From the Margins of Hindu
Marriage: Essays on Gender, Religion, and Culture, ed. Lindsey Harlan and Paul B. Courtright (New York, NY:
Oxford University Press, 1995), 185.
16
Veena Talwar Oldenburg, "The Roop Kanwar Case: Feminist Responses," in Sati: The Blessing and the Curse:
The Burning of Wives in India, ed. John Stratton Hawley (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2007), loc.
1442.
17
Lata Mani, Contentious Traditions: The Debate on Sati in Colonial India (Berkeley, CA: University of California
Press, 1998), 1.
18
Mani, Contentious Traditions, 162.
12
3
Indian positions will be analyzed alongside Hindu religious purposes and social expectations
within India. The paper will specifically argue that individuals in the contemporary, non-Indian
world view sati as merely sexist and savage but have limited knowledge on the ritual’s religious
and social significance.
II. Introduction to Players and Legal History
Before modern, non-Indian viewpoints can be explored alongside religious and social
purposes of sati in India, it is necessary to provide a brief introduction to the significant players
and the legal history surrounding the practice. Between 1774 and 1785, Warren Hastings, the
governor general of India, laid the foundation of British dominion in India.19 By June 18, 1878,
the British inhabitants had witnessed the practice of sati. They coined the term “suttee,” based
on a letter from Sir Charles Ware Malet, a resident at Poona.20 Soon, the rite was abhorred by the
British, since letters were written regarding the woman as a “victim to a barbarous and cruelly
consecrated error of misguided faith.”21
As sati became more common in Bengal and other districts under British jurisdiction
during the turn of the 19th century, there was a large debate surrounding the way that it should be
understood.22 There was a consensus among colonial authorities and some Hindu reformists that
sati is not a fundamental part of Hinduism but merely a medieval perversion of its core values.23
They believed that it was used to benefit the income of Brahman priests who collected fees from
performing the rituals and family members who acquired inheritances that may have gone to the
widow.24 Soon, despite the opposing argument that the practice reflected faith, sati was banned
19
Datta, A Historical, Social and Philosophical Enquiry, 19.
Ibid., 21.
21
Ibid.
22
Courtright, “Sati, Sacrifice, and Marriage,” 185.
23
Ibid.
24
Ibid.
20
4
for those who were pregnant, under the age of puberty, infant mothers, in a state of
uncleanliness, and in a state of stupefaction due to the administration of drugs.25 While this
momentarily lessened the practice, it began to increase once again the 1800’s, and officials
passed more unsuccessful policies.26 According to Andrea Major, between 1815 and 1829, the
British kept a record of immolations, which totaled between 500 and 900 annually.27 In 1829, the
East India Company passed legislation to abolish the practice led by British Governor-General
Lord William Bentinck,28 which was followed by Mahraja of Amber and Japipur, as well as 18
other priestly states in the Raiputana Agency in 1846.29
Throughout the 1900’s different approaches of passive quietism and further policies were
utilized. For instance, it was determined that those involved with the practice, whether it was
voluntary or not, would be subject to death or life imprisonment.30 Since India became a republic
in 1947, 41 cases of sati-style deaths have been reported.31 As a result of the placement of these
satis, Bengal and Rajasthan have become the two regions most associated with the practice.32
However, Rajasthan has become the site of most of the contemporary debate, especially since the
Roop Kanwar case in September of 1987.33 The sati of Roop Kanwar spawned conversation
throughout India, the West, and the world.
III. Modern, Non-Indian Negative Viewpoints
A. Roop Kanwar in India
25
Datta, A Historical, Social and Philosophical Enquiry, 24.
Ibid., 59.
27
Andrea Major, Sati: A Historical Anthology (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2007), xvi.
28
Singh, A Passion for Flames, 14
29
Oldenburg, “The Roop Kanwar Case,” loc. 1448.
30
Ibid., loc 1448
31
Ibid., loc. 1442
32
Major, A Passion for Flames, xvi.
33
Ibid.
26
5
Bal Singh Rathore and Sneh Kanwar discovered that their 18-year-old daughter, who had
only been married for eight months, had been widowed and cremated with her husband.34 This
18-year-old woman named Roop Kanwar ascended her husband’s funeral pyre in the village of
Deorala (Sikar district) about 60 kilometers north of Jaipur, the capital of the state of
Rajasthan.35 The cremation and sati took place merely six hours after the return of the corpse
from the hospital to the village of Roop’s father-in-law.36 This incident immediately angered
Indian feminists like Sharada Jain, who considered the event murder and tried to prevent the
chunari mahotsav ritual to be held on the 13th day after cremation, where a red veil is placed on a
trident at the site.37 About 350 individuals in India participated in an anti-sati demonstration in
Jaipur on September 14 to help prevent the celebrations to be held on September 16.38 Roop
Kanwar’s death did not only give Indian women a reason and cause to come together to stop the
trend, but it gave many non-Indians the realization that a practice like this even existed.
B. Non-Indian Interpretations
Soon, the non-Indian world was infuriated by the practice of sati seen in the case of Roop
Kanwar. Since the 16th century, Western travelers to India have frequently chronicled their
horrified eyewitness accounts of these events.39 However, while these events truly are horrific,
many non-Indians discuss the negative aspects of the practice without recognizing any particular
religious or social implications for the women. For instance, Courtright notes that Western
interpretations have explained that a sati is always coerced into her actions directly, through
34
Oldenburg, “The Roop Kanwar Case,” loc. 1442.
Laurens P. Van Den Bosch, "A Burning Question: Sati and Sati Temples as the Focus of Political Interest,"
Numen 37, no. 2 (1990): 174, ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials.
36
Ibid., 174
37
Oldenburg, “The Roop Kanwar Case,” loc 1533.
38
Ibid., loc. 1544.
39
Courtright, “Sati, Sacrifice, and Marriage,” 185
35
6
drugs, or through a patriarchal ideology.40 In reality, it is difficult to determine if whether or not
women are forced into the practice. In the case of Kanwar, there is a great deal of ambiguity with
regards to her sati. Some accounts claim that Roop Kanwar chose to become a true sati in order
to exemplify the noble ideal of Hindu womanhood.41 However, others state that family members
had taunted Kanwar after Maal Singh’s death and blamed her for brining misfortune to her
family.42 There is even controversy over how many people attended the sati and what time it
occurred.43 As a result, it is nearly impossible to determine whether or not Kanwar was forced to
become a sati or did so on her own accord.
Mary Daly provides further Western accounts condemning the practice without true
knowledge of the facts surrounding it. Daly, a radical and leading Western, controversial
feminist, sees all Hindu women as victims of religious and social patriarchy.44 She believes that
the role of women remains fixed and is not affected by economic, historical, or political
changes.45 When describing sati, she gives the impression that sati is a common practice among
all Hindus.46 This is not the case. In fact, the practice has only occurred about once a year since
India’s independence.47 She universalizes it, ignoring heterogeneous scriptural views on sati and
the contextual and historical differences in its practice.48
Van Den Bosch further exemplifies the idea that non-Indians generalize satis. He
explains that Westerners believe that “free will” in the Hindu society is non-existent and that
40
Ibid.
Sugirtharajab, “Courtly Text and Courting Sati,” 5
42
Paul B. Courtright and Namita Goswami, "Who Was Roop Kanwar?" in Religion and Personal Law in Secular
India: A Call to Judgment, ed. Gerald James Larson (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2001), 201.
43
Ibid.
44
Sugirtharajah, “Courtly Text and Courting Sati.” 22
45
Ibid., 23.
46
Ibid.
47
Major, Sati: A Historical Anthology, xvi.
48
Sugirtharajah, “Courtly Text and Courting Sati,” 23.
41
7
women in India have not been taught to make any decisions by themselves.49 He believes that
Westerners see widows as only truly having a choice between physical and social death, since
remarriage outside of these circles is out of the question.50 Similarly, Julia Leslie sheds light on
the idea that those in the West see “suttee as victim.”51 Even the use of the term “suttee” instead
of sati seeks to shed led on the idea of widowhood and victimization stemming from the
practice.52 While correct in come senses, this view does not take into account the deification of
these women and their possible choice to become a sati. This will be discussed in greater detail
in section III when the idea of “sati as victor”53 is explored.
IV. Sati as a Religious and Social Practice in Hinduism
A. Mythological Legend
While it is clear that sati is viewed as a gruesome practice, Western interpretations tend
to highlight its horrific nature without a full understanding of the fact that religious and social
significance is present. The word sati actually comes from the mythological legend of the
goddess Sita, the wife of Lord Shiva.54 This can be found in the Ramayana of Valmiki.55 Sita was
the eldest daughter of King Daksha and disliked Lord Shiva initially but came to be his loving
wife.56 When King Daksha was elevated as Prajapati Navak, he organized a Yajna to celebrate,
inviting all of the gods, but not his daughter and husband.57 Against the advice of her mother and
husband, Sita attended, where she realized that Lord Shiva’s share in the Yajna had not been
49
Van Den Bosch, “A Burning Question,” 186.
Ibid., 187.
51
Sugirtharajah, “Courtly Text and Courting Sati,” 8.
52
Ibid.
53
Ibid.
54
Singh, A Passion for Flames, 3.
55
Major, Sati: A Historical Anthology, 6.
56
Singh, A Passion for Flames, 3.
57
Ibid.
50
8
marked, and she was upset about the insult towards her husband.58 She destroyed her body by
immolating herself but took rebirth as Parvati and was married to Lord Shiva.59
While this demonstrates the deification of a woman who immolated herself, it is
important to note that Sita’s fire ordeal is not a sati in the strict sense. However, it self
incorporates many issues underpinning the ethos of sati, like purity, self-sacrifice, and devotion
to the husband.60 Parvati’s husband was alive and not on a funeral pyre when she immolated
herself.61 She did this merely for the prestige and honor of her husband.62 However, this can still
be related specifically to sati, because Parvati fulfilled the ideals of a pativrata.63
B. Sati in Religious Texts
Despite the popularity of Sita’s fire ordeal, there is great debate on the authority of sati
within religious texts. For instance, the Vedas, the oldest sacred authority on religious and social
matters, does not describe burning a widow with her dead husband.64 The Rigveda states, “Come,
come to the world of the living away from they husband, and become the wife of him who grasps
thy hand and is willing to marry thee…”65 This alludes to the importance of the relationship
between husband and wife but does not suggest burning upon a funeral pyre with him.
Specifically, the Rigveda explains that after the death of the husband, the virtuous widow should
bring oil and butter to the dead body; and after the body is cremated, the widow is supposed to
return to bring up the children.66 Similarly, Manu, the great legislator of laws in Hindu religious
and social life, has not prescribed the burning of a widow with her dead husband but merely
58
Ibid.
Ibid.
60
Major, Sati: A Historical Anthology, 6. 61
Singh, A Passion for Flames, 6.
62
Ibid.
63
Major, Sati: A Historical Anthology, 6
64
Singh, A Passion for Flames, 5.
65
Major, Sati: A Historical Anthology, 3.
66
Singh, A Passion for Flames, 5-6.
59
9
encourages her to cherish and respect him for honor in heaven.67 According to Singh, however,
the custom of sati gradually came into existence in practice and in the texts as the position of
women deteriorated in the period of 500BC to 500AD: the age of the Puranas, Sutras, Epics, and
early Smritis.68
According to Angirasa, “…for all women, there is no other duty but falling into the
funeral pyre when her husband dies…”69 Furthermore, the Vedavyasasmriti says, “The widow of
Brahmana should either immolate herself in the fire with the corpse of her deceased husband or
observe a lifelong vow of brahmacharya from that date.”70 There are many examples within the
Ramayana, Mahabharata, Smritis, and Puranas with regards to sati and wives of kings
immolating themselves on their husband’s funeral pyres.71 In the Bhagwat Purana, there is a
legend on the performance of sati by Archis, the wife of King Prithu, after he loses his life in
battle.72 However, within the texts that discuss sati, controversy remains. For instance, sati is
mentioned in Angiras Smriti but it is argued to have no value due to an opposition to Vedic
text.73 Some even argue that sati can be found within the relevant stanza of the funeral hymn of
the Rigveda, but others say that the word agreh was substituted by agneh to justify sati as a
religious custom instead of merely anointing the corpse.74 Needless to say, there is a great deal of
controversy surrounding the place of sati within Hindu texts. Regardless, in order for non-Indian
outsiders to fully understand the practice of sati before they condemn it, it is necessary to
analyze these texts and consider the possibility of sati being ritually significant for some
individuals as they deify satis.
67
Ibid., 9.
Ibid., 10.
69
Major, Sati: A Historical Anthology, 4.
70
Ibid.
71
Singh, A Passion for Flames, 17-18.
72
Ibid., 10.
73
Ibid.,18.
74
Ibid.,14. 68
10
C. Social Functions
Before looking at the deification of satis, it is next necessary to understand the social
functions of the practice. According to the Dharmashastras and Puranas, fidelity and service to
the husband is the only and main purpose of a Hindu married woman, with marriage as a
sacrament.75 In the ideal construction of pativrata dharma, the wife empties herself in service to
the well-being of her husband.76 As a result, when the woman’s husband dies, she takes the form
of a “double blind.”77 She is torn between whether to stay alive and keep the connection to him
through ritual or to go with him.78 There is even more pressure, because the woman is believed
to have given her husband bad karma, and she is deemed responsible for his death.79
Widowhood, as a result, becomes a cruel existence without remarriage or sympathy.80 In one
example by Lord Hastings, the woman’s bangles were broken, her head was shaved, she slept on
the floor, she was ostracized, and she dreaded a majority of her life.81 Widows are not only
viewed as escaping this social stigma, however. Sahagamana, or going with, confirms the
priority of the widow’s marriage over the natural fear of death and burning alive.82
As a result, some Hindus view sati as heroic. In fact, they even look at the practice as a
blessing only for specific women. One Hindu woman who viewed sati as heroic stated, “Sati is
not possible for all women, only those who are very blessed.”83 For many women, sati shows
ideal womanhood comprised of chastity and pativratya.84 Just as the living often burn things for
the dead to take with them in their afterlife within the Hindu tradition, a wife who immolates
75
Ibid., 2.
Courtright, “Sati, Sacrifice, and Marriage ,” 188.
77
Ibid.
78
Ibid., 189.
79
Ibid.
80
Datta, Sati: A Historical, Social and Philosophical Enquiry, 207.
81
Ibid., 208
82
Courtright, “Sati, Sacrifice, and Marriage,” 189.
83
Sugirtharajah, “Courtly Text and Courting Sati,” 14.
84
Singh, A Passion for Flames, 1.
76
11
herself on the funeral pyre is seen as being able to complete her husband and provide him
comfort in standing by his side in the afterlife.85 According to Van Den Bosch, pro-sati groups
are determined to demonstrate to the public that sati is a voluntary act of sacrifice within the
social constructs of India, even comparing it to soldiers who sacrifice their lives for their
country.86 However, when considering the violence of sati, non-Indians do not always consider
the fact that sati truly may be a result of choice for the wife because of society and a love for her
husband.
D. Deification
In fully understanding the social functions of a sati, it becomes clear that her deification
results from her act of bravery in following her husband to the afterlife. The performance of sati
by women is considered an act of great sacrifice, which denotes love, devotion, and the duty of
women towards their husbands in Hinduism.87 As a sati immolates herself on the funeral pyre,
she does not exhibit involuntary reflexes of pain that would be expected of a human.88 Instead,
she behaves in a way that makes her indistinguishable from a goddess.89
As a result of this devotion and bravery, people worship satis as goddesses, offer prayers
to them, and invoke their blessings.90 Close relatives or others within their caste immortalize
satis by building temples, raised platforms, of planted stones with an inscription of the women
on the place where they immolated themselves.91 These temples have become places of local
veneration and sponsor annual fairs where devotees come for ceremonial and social purposes.92
Most of the major caste groups in eastern Rajasthan even have their own satimata or mother 85
Singh, A Passion for Flames, 5.
Van Den Bosch, “A Burning Question: Sati and Sati Temples,” 186.
87
Singh, A Passion for Flames, 89.
88
Courtright, “Sati, Sacrifice, and Marriage,” 185.
89
Ibid.,184. 90
Singh, A Passion for Flames, 89.
91
Ibid., 89.
92
Courtright & Goswami, "Who Was Roop Kanwar?” 206.
86
12
goddess.93 There are now more than 140 important sati temples in the country, mostly in
Rajasthan.94 Hindu pilgrims travel to these temples to worship the deified dead as true goddesses.
According to Courtright, there is a belief that following sati and her transformation into a
goddess, the woman is able to distribute gifts, confer blessings, and inflict curses.95
V. Conclusion
Despite the deification of sati, there is rightly large controversy surrounding the ritual. It
is important to remember that while some Hindu religious texts are thought to encourage sati in
some areas, most women in India are illiterate and cannot even begin to write their own name.96
How then, would these same women be able to interpret small portions of Hindu texts? It is also
important to note that it is impossible to claim that all acts of sati are voluntary. According to
Datta, women are often confined with large bamboo so that they do not “run away,” and
unwarranted means are often used to give the appearance of a voluntary act for women who did
not consent.97
Furthermore, it is important to consider the fact that sati is not only opposed by
Westerners and other non-Indians but by many within India. Weinberger-Thomas quotes a letter
written by “a decided enemy to suttees” after he witnessed the sati of Radha-bai on her husband
Bala-ji Pant’s funeral pyre in Poona.98 This Indian man wrote,
I cannot describe to you the horror I felt on seeing the mangled condition she was in;
almost every inch of skin on her body had been burnt off; her legs and thighs, her arms
and back were completely raw; her breasts were dreadfully torn, and the skin hanging
from them in threads; the skin and nails of her fingers had peeled wholly off, and were
hanging to the back of her hands…99
93
Ibid.
Singh, A Passion for Flames, 140.
95
Courtright, “Sati, Sacrifice, and Marriage,” 185.
96
Datta, A Historical, Social and Philosophical Enquiry, 209.
97
Ibid.
98
Catherine Weinberger-Thomas, Ashes of Immortality: Widow-Burning in India (Chicago: Chicago University
Press, 1999), 203-204.
99
Ibid., 204 94
13
Sati, as seen in the actions of young Roop Kanwar, is clearly a violent practice that
rightly has restrictions, laws, and consequences surrounding its practice. However, this paper
seeks to explore the idea that non-Indians often view the practice as savage without truly
understanding the religious and social reasons that it is practiced. This paper in no way seeks to
approve of sati or advocate it. Instead, it seeks to shed light on the limited knowledge of nonIndians on sati by looking at their viewpoints alongside the religious and social functions of sati
in Hinduism.
Word Count- 3,349
14
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