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{{short description|Indian practice of self-immolation}}
{{Orphan|date=June 2024}}
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'''''Anumarana''''' or '''''Anugamana'''''<ref name=lr>{{cite book|title=Loops and Roots: The Conflict Between Official and Traditional Family ... By Purnima Chattopadhayay-Dutt|date=1995|pages=554–555|isbn=9788170246596|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v7I4aHMgsaAC&q=Anumarana&pg=PA554|last1=Chattopadhayay-Dutt|first1=Purnima|publisher=APH }}</ref> refers to the ancient Indian practice of [[self-immolation]] by which anyone with personal loyalty to the deceased could commit suicide at a loved one's funeral.<ref name=mlj>{{cite book|title=The Journal of Oriental Research, Madras, Volumes 19-22|date=1951|publisher=Madras Law Journal, Indo-Aryan|page=1,4,57|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D0c3AAAAIAAJ&q=Anumarana}}</ref><ref name=hd>{{cite book|title=History of Dharmaśāstra: (ancient and Mediæval Religious and Civil Law in India)|date=1974|publisher=Pāṇḍuraṅga Vāmana Kāṇe, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute|page=xviii, 628, 632|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ARk9AQAAIAAJ&q=Anumarana}}</ref> Anumarana was practiced usually by the widowed wives, when learnt of husband's death at battlefield or elsewhere and he had been already cremated. The widow then resolves to take away her life and immolated herself with husband's ashes or [[paduka]]s or other such memento.<ref name=lr/><ref name=mlj/><ref name=hd/> The practice of Anumarana is mentioned in [[Kamasutra]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedic Dictionary of the Dharmaśāstra, Volume 1 By Swami Parmeshwaranand|date=2003|page=210|isbn=9788176253659|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F1qJNIbbWA0C&q=Anumarana&pg=PA210|last1=Parmeshwaranand|first1=Swami|publisher=Sarup & Sons }}</ref> In [[Mahabharata]], there is a mention of Anumarana being practiced by widows of [[Kshatriyas]] on rare occasions.<ref>Memoirs of the Archaeological Survey of India - Issue 41 - 1929 - Page 21</ref> The practice has been described to be prevalent [[northern India]] and had existed before the [[Gupta Empire]].<ref>Women in the Sacred Laws by Shakuntala Rao Shastri
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1990 - Women (Hindu law) 1990: pp:130: Before the Gupta period the Anumarana was co-extensive with the later Sati rite.</ref> As per custom, the [[Brahmin]] women were only permitted to die by ''[[Sahamarana]]'' and were not allowed the right of ''anumarana''; however, non-Brahmin women could decide to self-immolate both by ''sahamarana'' or ''anumarana.''<ref>{{cite book|title=Rammohun Roy: A Critical Biography By Amiya P. Sen|isbn = 9788184757828|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h4xSuc3JhzMC&q=anumarana+brahmin&pg=PT115|last1 = Sen|first1 = Amiya P.|date = 15 October 2012| publisher=Penguin UK }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Women and Social Reform in Modern India: A Reader edited by Sumit Sarkar, Tanika Sarkar|date=2008|page=50|isbn=9780253352699|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEPYbuzOwcQC&q=sahamarana+brahmin&pg=PA50|last1=Sarkar|first1=Sumit|last2=Sarkar|first2=Tanika|publisher=Indiana University Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Burning women: a global history of widow sacrifice from ancient times to the present by Jörg Fisch|date=2006|publisher=Seagull|page=253,375,401|isbn=9781905422029|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zymCAAAAMAAJ&q=anumarana+brahmin}}</ref> Anumarana was not comparable to later understandings of the practice of ''[[sati (practice)|sati]]'', as in this widows did not self-immolate in funeral pyre of her husband.<ref name=mlj/><ref name=hd/> When a widow immolated herself with the husband's dead body, it was called ''Sahamarana'' or ''Sahagamana.''<ref name=lr/>

The Commission of [[Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987]] Part I, Section 2(c) defines ''Sati'' as the act or rite itself, including both ''sahamarana'' and ''anumarana''.<ref name="NRCW">[http://nrcw.nic.in/shared/sublinkimages/13.htm Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091025224737/http://nrcw.nic.in/shared/sublinkimages/13.htm |date=2009-10-25 }}. Official text of the Act on [[Government of India]]'s National Resource Centre for Women (NCRW) [http://nrcw.nic.in/ Website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302132824/http://nrcw.nic.in/ |date=2010-03-02 }}</ref> The practice of ''anumarana'' was generally banned by British authorities already in 1826 (with a prior ban for Brahmin widows in 1817<ref>{{cite book|last=Calcutta Historical Society|year=1957|title=Bengal: Past and Present|volume=76,1|publisher=Calcutta Historical Society|page=103|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RvjAAAAMAAJ&q=anumarana+banned+1826}}</ref>), three years prior to the general ban on ''sati''.<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Long|editor-first=George |page=359|chapter=Suttee|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=36orAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA359|title=The Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge|volume=23|year=1842|publisher=C. Knight|location=London}}</ref> At least 3 cases of anumarana were recorded in 1826.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sarma|first1=Bina K.|last2=Mukherjee|first2=Soma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jW_aAAAAMAAJ&q=anumarana+banned+1826|page=120|title=Folk deities and Matrika cult of South West Bengal|year=2004|volume=2|publisher=R.N. Bhattacharya| isbn=9788187661313 }}</ref> Nor had such cases been particularly exceptional; [[Anand Yang]] documents several cases where the widow immolated herself many years after her husband's death. Just in the [[Ghazipur]] district in 1822, for example, 4 widows were reported to commit ''anumarana'' 16–40 years after the deaths of their husbands, one of them throwing herself on the funeral pyre of her son.<ref>For these statistics and in-depth treatment, see {{cite book|last1=Yang|first1=Anand A.|editor1-last=Sarkar|editor1-first=Sumit |editor2-last=Sarkar|editor2-first=Tanika |pages=29–31|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEPYbuzOwcQC&pg=PA29|chapter=Whose Sati?Widow-Burning in early Nineteenth Century India|title=Women and Social Reform in Modern India: A Reader|year=2008|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, Indiana|isbn=9780253352699}}</ref>

Also the practice of ''anumarana'' was, in earlier times, not restricted to widows. These included the deceased's relatives, servants, followers, or friends. Sometimes these deaths stemmed from vows of loyalty,<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedia of Indian Women Through the Ages: Ancient India By Simmi Jain|date=2003|pages=522–23|isbn=9788178351728|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NH1qr33kfXAC&q=indian+antiquary&pg=PA252|last1=Jain|first1=Simmi|publisher=Gyan Publishing House }}</ref> and is said to have been prevalent in the 11th century CE in north/northwestern India, cases recorded in the 13th century CE as well.<ref name="Shastri">Shakuntala Rao Shastri, ''Women in the Sacred Laws'' -- The later law books (1960), also reproduced online at [http://www.hindubooks.org/women_in_the_sacredlaws/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408222221/http://www.hindubooks.org/women_in_the_sacredlaws/|date=2014-04-08}}. Web page 23-26, original pages, 65-76</ref> At the death in 1839 of the founder of the [[Sikh Empire]], [[Ranjit Singh]], Ranjit Singh's premier minister, Dhyan Singh, declared his commitment to perish in the flames as well. He had to be physically prevented from doing so by the other courtiers, since they felt the Sikh Empire could not manage without Dhyan Singh at this point of crisis in history.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fisch|first=Jörg|page=262|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lWIgyZRqu2QC&pg=PA262|title=Tödliche Rituale: die indische Witwenverbrennung und andere Formen der Totenfolge|year=1998|publisher=Campus Verlag|location=Frankfurt am Main/New York|isbn=9783593360966}} Fisch's source is [[:de:Johann Martin Honigberger|Johann Martin Honigberger]] who was royal physician for Ranjit Singh. At Ranjit Singh's funeral, 11 of his wives ''did'' commit sati.{{cite book|last=Honigberger|first=Johann M.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/frchteausdemmorg00honi/page/109 109]–110|url=https://archive.org/details/frchteausdemmorg00honi|title=Fruchte aus dem morgenlande|year=1851|publisher=Carl Gerold und Sohn|location=Vienna}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Jauhar]]
* [[Sati (practice)]], a chiefly historical practice in which a Hindu widow burns alive on her deceased husband's funeral pyre

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Suicide types]]
[[Category:Funerals in India]]
[[Category:Death customs]]
[[Category:Social history of India]]
[[Category:Gender and Hinduism]]
[[Category:Women and death]]

Anumarana - Revision history

BarneyMoh54: Stub