The Legend that was ‘Sati’

The mention of the word Sati spurs the imagination to envision the picture of a woman of utter virtue and self-abnegation who voluntarily consigned herself to the flames on her husband’s pyre. Literally, the word denotes a variegated combination of purity, truth and faith. In its heyday, consummation of the right of widow-burning was believed to confer inestimable beneficence not only on the prime incumbent of the ministration, which, inter alia, assured her abode in heaven along with her husband for as many years as hair on human body–3.5 crores–but also on three races with whom her earthly existence was linked, i.e., those of her mother, father and husband besides peripheral benefits that the priests and the general public obtained by accompanying the procession and witnessing the ceremony and by occasionally receiving floral gifts from the Sati.

Most ancient societies the world over were, at one time or the other, swayed by the custom of widow-burning, or more rarely burying, but after reaching a certain point of zenith, it seems to have faded out into total disuse through an organised social effort or a happy conjunction of natural forces. One possible reason for its early discontinuance in those societies could be the complete absence of religious sanction behind the convention which denied its opportunity and expediency of entrenchment. The custom was observed in one form or the other by Chinese, Greeks, Egyptians, Slavs, Scandinavians. Germans, Teutons, Gauls and Hermites. In fact, it could be said that at some time or the other on the entire human race the shadow of this rite was cast in varying degrees. In some cases only funeral offerings were made which included generous gifts of slaves who were slaughtered without the slightest compunction. Royal mummies of Egypt were entombed in the company of numerous slaves for rendering assistance in the after-death life.

In India the custom could be traced to the dawn of history. Proponents of the thesis that the custom flourished in the Vedic ages are numerous but their interpretation of the scriptural passages of questionable authenticities is not free from doubt. It is commonly known that Rig Veda treats of pleasures of life and a diametrically opposite picture of grim and dolorous rite could not be co-existent therewith and is therefore unsupportable in that context. It may be that in keeping with the medieval and dark forces of the earth, India could not be an exception to the observance of a social custom which was followed in other lands. Some authorities expound that Scynthians were the original race who gave birth to the idea, nurtured it and propagated the same in the lands where they settled. A conjecture is offered that the concept germinated in India with Scynthians. However, the rite is said to have formed not an unimportant part in the funeral ceremonies before Ramayana and Mahabharata or about 300 years B. C. In certain texts, eight centuries before Christ, traces of reference to Sati are found.

In the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda, rites of the Antyesti Samskara (the last ceremonies) are delineated where reference to the laying of the widow on the funeral pyre is available. No trace of concremation is to be found in these texts. The Purpose of laying the widow along with her deceased husband is cloaked in indissoluble mystery. A guess may be ventured here. Since it is believed that the spirit of the departed person hovers around the dead body for sometime after the person is commonly believed dead, an ingenuous system was devised by the bigoted and gullible priesthood of eliciting permission from the dead person for allowing the widow to abide in the world and relinquish wealth to the descendants. An address to this effect was made to the dead man while the widow lay alongside the corpse, whereafter, a younger brother or any other suitable person held her by left hand urging her to rise and relinquish the world of the dead, further asking her to agree to be the wife of one who was willing to marry her.

The description is suggestive. It is possible that in certain cases the widows may have refused to relinquish the side of their dead husbands. Their living relationship may have been intensely emotional and the woman may have been bowed down by excessive grief on the loss of her Lord, the visible God without whom life may have no meaning for her or in whose absence continuance of existence just could not be contemplated. A further conjecture is that in one of the symptomatic or pioneering instances the woman may have been compelled to accompany her partner by vested interests of her domestic life, particularly those who coveted the considerable wealth that the deceased may have left behind. Or perhaps the burden of maintenance of the widow may have impelled a heartless patriarch to enter into collusion with the priestdom for an easy elimination of the widow, injecting the mundane suggestion with religious respectability and piousness, holding out, at the same time, a promise of great ethereal splendour in after life. No religious sanction ever seems to have been attached to the custom. It is only the perversion of the rooted and vested behoof of the medieval mind that twisted the scriptural stipulations to interpretation congenial to its own end. Manu, the Law-giver, does not enjoin the practice nor for that matter is it supported by later faiths in the strands of Indian social or religious life. Manu’s directions to the widow is for leading a life of an ascetic after the departure of her Lord. Provisions in innumerable ancient texts that a law contrary in spirit to that enjoined by Manu is not commendable must be taken clear note of. Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism expostulated against the practice.

It is therefore apparent that no single factor or consideration can be held responsible for transfixation of the practice in India, though due primarily to local influences its predominance in certain parts of the country can be explained, even as its sparse acceptance in others can be accounted for.

Possibly, the Aryans–among them principally the aristocracy ­may have followed the rite for over a thousand years, yet the earliest, recorded instance of Sati is provided in the account left to posterity by a Greek historian. Diodorus Siculus, who may have be approximated to have lived in Julius Caeser’s time. The event described is the death and funeral of a Hindu General named Keteus serving under Eumenes, the Greek Commander of Alexander’s army. While fighting Antigonos somewhere in 316 or 317 B.C., the Indian General was killed and an obstreperous contro­versy raged between his two wives who vied for the honour of concremation. The issue, in deference to the accepted convention then prevalent, was settled in favour of the younger spouse as the elder was big with a child. Bedecked as bride, she laid herself by the side of her husband on the pyre. A detachment of the army marched three times around the pyre platform. The violence of flames could not draw a cry of anguish from the voluntary participant; she is reported to have bid adieu with a smile, perhaps with a wave of arm even as the flames completely engulfed her.

Certain positive conclusions can be deduced from the above account, which could conveniently be taken as a typical one of the many that preceded or followed. In the first place the custom appears to have been confined to either the martial race of Kshatriyas entrusted with the defence of the country, or the aristocracy for some ambiguous reasons.

Second, to achieve the state of Satihood was deemed as an honour which unequivocally proves that no force was used or required in its administration and that the custom was entirely voluntarily followed, being basked on unstinting willingness. Third, social forces seem to have assigned full approbation to the rite. However, no explicit legal or religious sanction seem attached to the fashion. Successive cases of selflessness, grit, valour and chivalry, loftiness of purpose and sublimity of action that the once languishing custom leaped into a raging fashion embraced by all castes and creeds. It no longer remained the monopoly of the Brahmins, the aristocracy or the militant sections of the society.

Brahmana literature, the various Sutras, Srutis, the Buddhist and Jain sacred books do not either support or repudiate the rite. In fact, no clear mention of the existence of the custom is referred to.

A marked reference confronts us in the Samhitas of Vishnu and Vyasa which stipulate that either the widow should lead a chaste life of celibacy, renouncing all pleasures of the senses or as an alternative, ascend her husband’s funeral pyre. It is indeed noteworthy that even here no clear commandment in favour of the custom is propounded.

Mahabharata cites prominent instances of the rite but it is known that most of the widows of the martyrs of Mahabharata war did not immolate themselves, though some drowned themselves later. Stray examples of Sati are also to be found in the epic of Ramayana.

It is stated that on hearing of the death of Dronacharya, his wife made her appearance on the battlefield of Kurukshetra in wild, dishevelled fashion but she did not achieve Satihood.

The rite may be assumed to have figured in the Indian literature in the centuries following the birth of Christ. Banu’s Rajatarangini and Somadeva’s Brihatkathasaritsagara mention instances Sati: in particular, these two cardinal publications inform us of the variation that the principle of Sati came to adopt in course of time. This may well have been influenced by Scythian practice of similar nature. Bana quotes instances where concubines, sisters and even mothers concremated themselves the practice being known as Sahamarana, or Sahagamana or Anvarohana. Somadeva quoted the particular example of the Queen Mother committing Sati when her son Visujitamalla of Nepal was killed in Samvat 878.

Much later, the famous French traveller Jean Tavernier, who made a number of trips to India, clearly portrays the custom in his reminiscences which relate to a period between 1640 to 1667 A. D. He states that the alternative to Sati open to the widow was to lead a life of unbroken misery, disgrace and contempt–an existence of a worth lesser than even a slave enjoyed. Most often the balance of choice tilted in favour of the custom, the decision in no small measure being dictated by the over-zealous relations and priesthood who did not tarry in portraying the pictures of glory and edification that awaited the deceased and the widow in the other world. The woman who had decided to go the way, had her head shaved and ornaments, e.g., arms and leg bracelets which were presented by her husband symbolising her faithfulness to him, were taken away. Though during the period in reference the Muslim rulers had, in a half-hearted fashion, forbidden the commission of the rite as their permission to consummate the rite was mandatory, such permission appears to have been freely granted in consideration for a sizable bribe offered to the Muslim governors. Other ingredients, such as bedecking the lady as a bride, playing of music, distribution of relics by the would-be Sati and the possible administration of drugs, narcotics and potions to induce insensibility were common to this period as in the immemorial past.

Principally, three different methods seem to have been employed in the various parts of the country in the consummation of the actual ceremony. In the entire region of Coromandal Coast including the Southern Peninsula, the method adopted was to dig a large and deep hole in the ground stuffed with generous quantities of firewood. The body of the husband was placed at the edge, the wife went round the pit three times, chewing betel non-stop, bidding adieu to the near ones, whereafter the body was thrown into the inferno, heated like a furnace. The woman with her towards the pit was pushed in by one of the priests, and combustibles and oils were poured in generous quantities by the relatives accompanied by defeaning beating of drums and cymbals. In certain places, mostly near the sandy shores, instances of burying the dead and the living have been recorded. The woman was placed upright with the husband in her lap in a deep hole and each relation poured a bucketful of the earth and sand until the hole was covered a level with the ground or a foot or two above ground level. The relations then jumped thereat to ensure that the Sati was smothered.

In the kingdom of Bengal, it was obligatory to perform the ceremony on the banks of the sacred Ganga where the dead and the alive were washed and offered to ‘agni’ in eternal union. Tavanier states that due to shortage of firewood in the Bengal region the bodies were often half-burnt in the scanty bed of reeds and wood and were thrown into the Ganges to be eagerly devoured by the crocodiles.

In the kingdom of Gujarat extending upto Agra and Delhi, the system was to build a hut of faggots and the woman placed in the middle, half reclining against a strong post with which she was fastly secured from the waist, the husband lying across her knees. From outside the hut, fire was kindled by the priests and relatives poured ghee and combustibles thereon, to increase the intensity and violence of flames. Melted gold and copper ornaments were seized by the priests as their rightful reward for abetting the rite.

The enlightened minds saw the evil in the practice of Sati and each great man who supported its abolition expressed forcefully the need for its total prohibition and took practical steps in this direction. Mahanirvana Tantra condemned the practice in no ambiguous terms and stated that those who perpetrated the crime of burning the woman with her husband earn for themselves only a place in eternal hell. The practice is likened to the act of performance of black magic in Medhatithi on Manu. Annmarana, the pathetic act of dying with any article left by the husband e.g., Padukas, loin-cloth, turban etc., which is nothing short of suicide, is deemed an act of irreligion against the spirit of the Sastras. Vedas have laid down the cardinal principle of completing one’s span of life on earth which should not be shortened by any voluntary or deliberate act, however socially justified such an exercise might be. Bana Bhatt was one of the earliest advocates who took an unequivocal stand for its obliteration. Bana has gone a step further in branding the perpetrators of the custom as ignorant, short-sighted lot. He has brought out a new angle in that he calls it suicide by the widows committed purely to obviate the unendurable grief sustained by them, thus tearing apart the weakness which may in many cases have been responsible in sending the simple minded young widows to their dooms.

Successive Muslim rulers, including Akbar, Jehangir and Aurangzeb, issued firmans forbidding the commission of this practice. Akbar is reputed to have personally intervened in saving the life of a young Rajputnee who was reluctant to be sacrificed for the honour of Satihood. Although the Sikh Gurus enjoined dissociation from the rite, notable instances of Sati performed during and after Ranjit Singh’s time by Sikhs are available.

Adigranth says, “Satis are those who live on with a broken heart.”

One of the rare instances of Sati amongst Muslims is mentioned in Tuzuk-i-Jehangiri. Rajaur (a town near Kashmir) was a Hindu-dominated area before proselytisation to Islam was carried out. As a vestige of their culture, these converts continued to practise the rite as of old, except that they buried their dead along with the living in contrast to burning them. A case of 10 to 12 year old girl is cited who was buried along with her husband of the same age. Royal decree prohibited the practice on pain of death. This decree, to all accounts, seemed intended for Muslim populace.

The half-hearted measure adopted by the ruling authority in suppression of the rite bore no appreciable results, as the Muslim governors from whom prior permission was to be obtained, were too acquiese for a consideration which was gladly offered. The social reformer, who went all out for its erosion was largely unsuccessful for lack of enforcing capability. It was, therefore, essential that a fusion of both these prerequisites was available to eradicate the evil. Making perhaps an apparent show of policy of non-interference in the social conduct of their Hindu subjects, the Muslim rulers followed a policy of passivity.

The great apostle of abolition of this searning and blotchful custom, that enlightened giant from Bengal, Raja Ram Mohan Roy–from the land that gave birth to many an illustrious son of India–was shaken violently after witnessing the spectacle of the performance of Sati of his brother Jagan Mohan’s wife somewhere in 1811. She was an unwilling associate of this drama and when the flames engulfed her, she made an unfruitful attempt to escape. The precipitators and the so-called protectors of mythical values took adequate measures in setting her valiant bid at naught. The priests and other relatives pinned her down on to the pyre by means of green bamboos and the high level intensity of drums and other musical instruments drowned her shrieks. This inhuman sacrifice set Ram Mohan Roy thinking. His resolve for the reform gained added strength from the miserable position then prevalent with regard to the ever-increasing number of women committing or forced to commit Sati. In one year, 1815, as many as 840 Satis were committed in Bengal. The position remained unchanged during the following two years when the number of Satis was nearly 1400, though the number decreassed somewhat subsequently. In 1818 and. 1820 Raja Ram Mohan Roy published two tracts on the practice of Sati after delving deep into the religious aspects of the custom. His findings which laid bare the complete absence of any religious sanction behind the practice confounded the supporters of the rite.

It was perhaps the first real attempt to put before the intelligentsia the fallacious and mythical beliefs governing the observance of the rite and doubtless the gravity of the thoughtless and blind following jolted the people severely. The Governor-General William Cavendish Bentinck had initiated the move to legally curb the entrenched practice. The humanistic-minded English Governor held consultations with Raja Ram Mohan Roy and was convinced that bereft of the support from social forces, the custom could be forcefully tackled under legal stipulations. The masterly minutes recorded by Bentinck recommending the passage of the statute is an archive of lasting significance in the history of social reform in India. 4th December 1829 is in real terms a day to be hailed, for it was on this day that Lord Bentinck carried the regulation in Council by virtue of which all those who abetted Sati rite were declared guilty of culpable homicide. For this stupendous achievement he earned Macaulay’s encomiums as “the man who abolished cruel rites, gave liberty to the expression of public opinion, whose constant study was to elevate the intellectual and moral character of the nations committed to his charge.” (The inscription appears below Lord Bentinck’s statue at Calcutta.)

By any test, any social custom–practised by a people from time immemorial–cannot be expected to cease overnight, even in the face of heavy penalties stipulated for its ‘violation’. Numerous defiances of the law were committed and the guilty punished accordingly. Complete absence of Sutee practice seems to have come about a few years after the passage of the law although religious bigots appealed to the Privy Council against the statute, Raja Ram Mohan Roy went to England as a supporter of the law, and the appeal was, ultimately, rejected. The embers of the suppressed leanings found vent from time to time and the historian is confronted with a number of cases where a revival of the practice was in evidence. As recently as in 1954 and 1961, the now rare occurrence in the field, however, were revived. In the former case, a Rajput girl achieved Satihood in a village in Jhansi district; another one in the same year having been committed by the wife of Brigadier Zabar Singh. The latter instance pertains to a village woman Roop Kannwar who immolated herself on her husband’s pyre at a place known as Mitava in Nagpur district, on November 9, 1961. Nearly six to seven thousand people are reported to have witnessed the spectacle.

Eulogies have not been lacking in support of selfless acts of the Satis. G. C. Hutton goes out to praise, “The matchless constancy and fearless indifference of death” of the Indian widow. Rabindranath Tagore has warmly lauded the utter coolness with which the widows beautified and sanctified the death.

John Dryden sang of the sterling virtues of the widows thus:

“...a funeral vow
which cruel laws to Indian vows allow
When fatally their virtue they approve
Cheerful in flames, and martyrs of their love.”

As a measure of expression of a devotion to the husband, the widow’s act of Satism is the supreme culmination of her feelings. This, however, is rare treat. Major General Sleeman in his rambles and recollections has provided us with the graphic description of a case in which he was ultimately compelled to his sanction since the widow had convinced him both by behaviour and discourse that her salvation lay only with her husband who had been cremated earlier. This was the zenith of the ideals of the Indian womanhood which, like everything else, has undergone a change with the passage of time.

The Indian landscape, predominantly the country side, is draped with numerous mute monuments which bear eloquent testimony to the highest ideals embodied in the character of Indian woman.