Sati, also known as suttee, is a mostly historical tradition in which a Hindu widow burns alive on the funeral pyre of her departed husband. This practice might be voluntary, coerced, or motivated by a sense that there are no good options for living on.
Whether or not it was mentioned in the scriptures of early Hinduism is up for question, but it has been connected to similar Hindu customs in Indo-Aryan-speaking parts of India that have weakened women's rights, particularly those relating to property inheritance. Since ancient times, Hindu widows have been neglected and sent out in a cold type of sati.
Sati is mentioned in passing in Greek literature dating from around 300 BCE, but it most likely evolved as a genuine fire sacrifice in the medieval period among northwest Rajput clans, where it was first restricted until becoming more popular in the late medieval period.
It is named after the Hindu goddess Sati, who is said to have burned herself to death after being humiliated by her father Daksha, and her husband Shiva. 'Chaste woman' was the original meaning of the term sati. In Hindi and Sanskrit writings, the word "sati" is used interchangeably with "good wife". Anglo-Indian English writers frequently used the phrase "suttee." As a result, the term "sati" initially described the woman rather than the ceremony. The variations are:
The phrase "sativrata," which is rare and rarely used, refers to a woman who swears (vrata) to defend her husband while he is still alive and then passes away beside him.
A revered widow who engaged in sati is known as a satimata.
There is no universal agreement on the origins and dissemination of the sati practice, making them complicated and hotly contested issues. Rituals like widow burning and sacrifice have been thought to have primordial origins. The Vedic Age and the burial customs of the ancient Asiatic steppe Andronovo cultures (1800–1400 BCE) share a number of similarities, according to researcher Elena Efimovna Kuzmina. Although neither culture formally observes it, she views sati as a primarily symbolic twofold burial or double cremation, a trait that she claims is present in both.
When "mores of the clan gave way to the norms of caste" during the Vedic era, wives were required to participate in numerous ceremonies but had little power, according to Romila Thapar. It is believed that a widow of status who later married her husband's brother had to undertake a "symbolic self-immolation" as part of a ceremony that was supported by a Vedic text. Later ages saw the text claimed as the source of Sati, with a different interpretation that permitted the authorities to demand that the widow sacrifice herself by joining her husband on the funeral pyre.
As part of the Sanskritization process, the practice of sati was imitated by those who aspired to become high-ranking members of the royal family and warriors. However, the centuries-long Islamic invasion and expansion in South Asia, as well as the suffering and marginalization that widows faced, also contributed to the practice's spread.
Similar to the tradition of Jauhar, sati also came to entail protecting the honor of women whose men had been killed, with the concepts of Sati and Jauhar supporting one another. Originally a self-selected execution for queens and noblewomen who had lost a war, jauhar was particularly popular among Rajput warriors.
According to Oldenburg, this practice may have originated with the enslavement of women by Greek conquerors. On the documented Rajput practice of Jauhar during wartime, it is mentioned that centuries before the arrival of the Muslims, the most revered group in Rajasthan, north-west India, was the Kshatriyas or Rajput castes, not the Brahmins, who protected the region from invaders. She suggests that Brahmins in the northwest adopted Rajput customs and changed the concept of sati from "brave woman" to "good woman." Other non-warrior castes adopted the practice once those Brahmins did.
During the colonial era, Sati practice returned, especially in Bengal, where it was practiced by a sizable population. This resurgence may have been caused by three factors: by the 19th century, sati was thought to be supported by Hindu scriptures; it was promoted by dishonest neighbors because, according to Hindu law, it allowed a widow who was entitled to inherit her deceased husband's property to annex it, thereby eradicating the inheritor; and poverty was so severe in the 19th century that sati provided a means of escape for a woman who had neither resources nor hope of survival.
Daniel Grey claims that a deliberate attempt to promote "problem Hindu" notions in the 19th and early 20th centuries skewed our understanding of the origins and dissemination of sati during the colonial era. According to Lata Mani, every party that discussed the topic during the British colonial era held the view that Indian women had a "golden age" before declining in support of the Muslim conquests. The idea that British missionaries were saving "Hindu India from Islamic tyranny" was also promoted as a result of this discussion. Several British missionaries who had studied classical Indian literature attempted to apply Hindu scriptural interpretations in their missionary work to convince their people that Sati was not mandated by Hinduism.
The majority of Hindu groups, particularly those in North India, exclusively bury the bodies of infant girls and other children under the age of two. Cremation is the norm for those above two. Rare reports of Indian sati that feature the widow's burial alongside her deceased husband may be found in a few European accounts. The live burial of a Hindu widow in the 16th century is depicted in one of the illustrations in the Portuguese Códice Casanatense. Along the Coast of Coromandel, ladies were buried with their deceased husbands as people danced during the cremation ceremonies, according to Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, a 17th-century gem trader and world traveler.
The sole documented eyewitness account of an Indian sati including a burial comes from the Flemish painter Frans Balthazar Solvyns in the 18th century. According to Solvyns, the tradition involved the woman shaving her head, music, and the presence of East India Company soldiers to protect the ceremony. While praising the Hindu woman, he also labels the tradition barbarous.
Symbolic sati has been reported in certain Hindu groups. A widow lies down by her deceased husband, and while some aspects of the burial and marriage rituals are performed, she is not killed. A contemporary example can be found in Sri Lanka. Even while there is evidence for this type of symbolic sati today, it is by no means a recent development. For instance, one of the four Vedas, the ancient and revered Atharvaveda, which is thought to have been written around 1000 BCE, tells of a burial rite in which the widow is urged to rise to receive the blessings of her surviving husband's children and inheritance.
According to Dehejia, there is no reference to any sati-like practice in Vedic literature. The Vedas only record one instance, in which a widow is sleeping next to her deceased husband and is urged to leave the mourning and return to the living. Prayer is then offered for her to lead a happy life filled with wealth and children. According to Dehejia, this passage is not an authentic verse, nor does it reflect a pre-existing sati ritual or widow remarriage; its single mention could also be seen as an addition made later on in the text. According to Dehejia, no Buddhist texts from the ancient or early medieval periods discuss sati because they would not have condemned death or self-destruction.
In India, a custom of honoring jivit (living status) emerged in the 20th century. A lady who formerly wanted to commit suicide but chose to live after giving up her will to die is known as a jivit. Bala Satimata and Umca Satimata were two well-known Jivit who lived till the early 1990s.