This is shocking to many. Today you will learn about the Sati rite in India. The ancient country is rich in distinctive traditions that have remained virtually unchanged for many centuries. Some of them arouse interest and admiration in a European person, and some - genuine horror and misunderstanding. What can really shock a modern person is the sati rite. In a few words, this ritual involves the self-immolation of a widow after her husband died: at his funeral pyre or a few days later. Legally, this custom has long been prohibited, but, as the chronicles testify, in some villages such cases still occur.
Legend of the origin of the sati rite
India never ceases to amaze anyone who is on the path of learning about its history, cultural traditions and rituals. The sati rite is a phenomenon that causes shock and genuine horror among foreigners. Even in Indian society there are heated debates over this issue. This ritual was not completely eradicated. Why this is happening cannot be answered unequivocally. But you can assume.
We know that India is a state with a centuries-old, and maybe even a thousand-year history. She had to go through both stages of incredible upsurge and times of decline. For a long time the country has been living in difficult conditions. Despite the fact that India has everything in order to live comfortably, most of its inhabitants can barely make ends meet. Perhaps what their ancestors believed in and what traditions were revered above all else give strength to poor Indians who are the successors of cultural heritage. There is practically no hope for material improvement, so the most weighty support is the spiritual aspect.
Adhering to the same traditions as their ancestors, people feel an invisible connection with them, fueling the belief in a prosperous life after reincarnation. Maybe that's why historically it happened that the Indians are a people who sacredly honor their traditions, even if some of them seem wild to a modern person and are actively condemned.
It is impossible to say for sure what was the exact reason for the appearance of the sati rite and when it first happened. There is only some legend trying to explain the origin of this ancient ritual.
Photo of a ritual bonfire in India
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The legend of the origin of the ritual
So, according to the legend, the god Daksha Prajapati had a daughter, Devi. In the incarnation of Sati, she was the faithful and loving consort of Shiva. Once Daksha gave a great feast for all the deities. And he invited everyone to this feast, except Shiva. And the reason was that Daksha did not approve of the marriage of his daughter Devi and thus decided to demonstrate his attitude towards the unwanted son-in-law. But, since Sati devotedly loved her husband, she took such an act of her father as an insult not only to Shiva, but also to herself as his wife. In protest and with a desire to prove the superiority of Shiva over other gods, Sati went to the sacrificial fire and burned to death. When Shiva found out about the deed of his beloved wife and what was the reason, he became angry and cut off Daksha's head.
There are several assumptions about what happened next. One of them says: the distraught Shiva collected the remains of his wife and, exhausted from grief, wandered for a long time to different places. Where the dust of Sati fell to the ground, lakes were formed and temples were erected.
According to another version, after the self-immolation of Sati and the murder of her father, Shiva, who had completely lost his mind, raised his wife and began to circle her body in a crazy dance. Deciding to interrupt this madness, the god Vishnu cut Sati's body into fifty pieces. All the remains fell to the ground. All the places they went to became holy.
From now on, the goddess Devi, who demonstrated her loyalty to her husband through the act of self-immolation, became a symbol of the unconditional devotion of a Hindu woman to her husband. Named after her, the sati ritual suggests that a widowed woman is burned at a funeral pyre with her husband. Thus, the wife follows her deceased husband, proving her virtue.
"The widow goes to the ritual bonfire" - ancient Indian illustration
Rite history
It is known that the sati ritual is similar to the rituals that exist in the history of other peoples. For example, in Russia there was a rite when, together with the body of the owner, his slave was burned alive.
In the Mahabharata, there are references to the fact that around 400 BC. there were cases of voluntary self-immolation of women in the name of their men.
It is interesting that Alexander the Great himself, traveling through the territory of India, in 316 BC. witnessed how two women fought for the right to be burned at the funeral pyre along with their beloved man. It certainly made a huge impression on him. In his opinion, this practice was not uncommon. This was done so that wives would not try to poison their husbands.
In North India, immediately before the formation of the Gupta Empire, there was already a ritual called "anumarama". Its difference from the sati ritual was that it was completely voluntary and involved the burning of not only the wife, but also all those who themselves want to demonstrate their devotion to the deceased person. So, servants, subjects, relatives and friends could ascend to the funeral pyre. This was especially practiced when an oath of allegiance was taken.
It is believed that the rite of self-immolation of widows in India was most widespread at the end of the Gupta Empire (about 500 BC). There is also an opinion that this is due to:
- with the stratification of society into castes (the sati ritual was akin to the method aimed at ideological subordination of caste members);
- with the arrival of the White Huns on the territory of India, which caused the collapse of the Gupta Empire.
Openly self-immolation rituals for widows continued until the early 19th century. It was during this period that a law was passed that officially recognized sati as a crime. Of course, it was not immediately rooted among the population that this ritual should remain in the historical past. And what to say, if such a practice sometimes still takes place in some villages.
Engraving
Ritual traditions
The main idea of sati is the voluntary self-immolation of a widow with her husband's body. According to tradition, the body of the deceased was to be burnt (in India it is customary to burn the dead) within one day after death. This time should have been enough for the wife to decide whether she was ready to follow her husband to the funeral pyre. But if the spouse died far from home, it was assumed that the ceremony would be performed later.
The sati rite was considered the logical conclusion of a marriage between a man and a woman. Before climbing the ritual bonfire, the wife put on wedding clothes (often this was the very outfit in which she got married) and followed her husband.
The very process of performing sati could be different. In some cases, the woman lay or sat next to her husband's body, waiting for the fire to be lit. It happened that the widow jumped into an already blazing fire. But there is also evidence that sometimes wives kindled a flame on their own while sitting inside.
Sati is a significant ritual for the whole of India
Was the self-immolation of widows voluntary?
Although the sati ritual was initially considered voluntary, it seems sometimes that was far from the case. From the surviving drawings showing the ceremony, we can conclude that they tried to immobilize the widows so that they could not get out of the fire. For example, the spouse of the deceased was tied, or people lined up around the flame with sharp and long poles aimed at the woman. This eliminated the possibility that the widow's attempts to save herself would be crowned with success.
But even if such radical measures were not applied to a woman, she was often subjected to the strongest psychological pressure (especially from her husband's relatives). Because of the condemnation of the very status of a widow by society and because of the despair that she experienced, the woman could independently decide to burn in the fire. It seemed like the only sure way.
We have decided not to publish photos of the sati ritual for known reasons, thanks for your understanding.
And although sati has long been banned, and the law punishes those who are somehow involved in organizing the ceremony, the attitude towards widows in the hinterland of the country remains, one might say, ruthless. Unhappy women are considered something like the "walking dead." And they even call them "who ate their husbands." Believing in all these prejudices, they may not be allowed to attend weddings and birthdays. They are considered to be practically thrown overboard of life.
Western society can condemn such orders. But it is worth agreeing that India is a country with a difficult fate, and Indians are a people who have endured life's trials for more than one generation. Perhaps the reluctance to completely abandon such traditions, even if such dashing and sometimes bloody, is due to the fear of changes that will lead to the unknown?