Sati (practice): Difference between revisions

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The origins and spread of the practice of ''sati'' are complex and much debated questions, without a general consensus.{{sfn|Yang|2008|p=21–23}}{{sfn|Oldenburg|1994|p=162–167}} It has been speculated that rituals such as widow sacrifice or widow burning have prehistoric roots.<!-- **START OF NOTE** -->{{refn|group=note|Early 20th-century pioneering anthropologist [[James G. Frazer]] thought that the legendary Greek story of [[Capaneus]], whose wife Evadne threw herself on his funeral pyre, might be a relic of an earlier custom of live widow-burning.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pausanias|last2=Frazer|first2=James G.|page=200|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CetszVxoxAoC&pg=PA200|title=Pausanias's Description of Greece|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2012| location=Cambridge|isbn=978-1108047258|volume=3}}</ref> In Book 10 of Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica (lines 467ff.), Oenone is said to have thrown herself on he burning pyre of her erstwhile husband Paris, or Alexander. The strangling of widows after their husbands' deaths are attested to from cultures as disparate as the [[Natchez people]] in present-day [[Louisiana]], to a number of [[Pacific Islander]] cultures.<ref>''On Natchez, and on Anatom in present day [[Vanuatu]]'', {{cite book|last=Mackenzie|first=Donald A.|pages=158–159|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6chKHROa1icC&pg=PA158|title=Myths of Pre-Columbian America|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|year=1923|isbn=978-0486293790}} ''Tahiti, Hawaii, Samoa'' {{cite book|last=Brantlinger|first=Patrick|pages=[https://archive.org/details/tamingcannibalsr00bran/page/34 34]–35|url=https://archive.org/details/tamingcannibalsr00bran|url-access=registration|title=Taming Cannibals: Race and the Victorians|publisher=Cornell University Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0801462641}}, ''Fiji'' {{cite book|last1=Thornley|first1=Andrew|last2=Vualono|first2=Tauga|page=166|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JTuavWoQW9oC&pg=PA166|title=A Shaking of the Land: William Cross and the Origins of Christianity in Fiji |isbn=978-9820203747 |publisher=University of the South Pacific |location=Suva, Fiji}}</ref><br><br>[[Ibn Fadlan]] describes a 10th-century CE [[ship burial]] of the [[Rus' (people)|Rus']]. When a female slave had said she would be willing to die, her body was subsequently burned with her master on the pyre.<ref>However, in this ritual described by Ibn Fadlan, the slave girl is described as being stabbed to death prior to being burned. See p. 19, at {{cite web|website=library.cornell.edu|title=Ibn Fadlan and the Rusiyyah|author=James E. Montgomery|url=http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/montgo1.pdf}}</ref>}}<!-- **END OF NOTE** --> The archaeologist [[Elena Efimovna Kuzmina]] has listed several parallels between the burial practices of the ancient Asiatic steppe [[Andronovo culture]]s (fl. 1800–1400 BCE) and the [[Vedic Age]].<ref name=":7">See table 18 at {{cite book |author=Elena Efimovna Kuzmina |page=341 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x5J9rn8p2-IC&pg=PA341 |title=The Origin of the Indo-Iranians |editor=J.P. Mallory |year=2007 |publisher=Brill |location=Leyden |isbn=978-9004160545|author-link=Elena Efimovna Kuzmina }}</ref> She considers ''sati'' to be a largely symbolic double burial or a double cremation, a feature she argues is to be found in both cultures,<ref name=":8">{{cite book |author=Elena Efimovna Kuzmina |page=340 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x5J9rn8p2-IC&pg=PA340 |title=The Origin of the Indo-Iranians |editor=J.P. Mallory |year=2007 |publisher=Brill |location=Leyden |isbn=978-9004160545|author-link=Elena Efimovna Kuzmina }}</ref> with neither culture observing it strictly.<ref name=":9">{{cite book |author=Elena Efimovna Kuzmina |page=194 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x5J9rn8p2-IC&pg=PA194 |title=The Origin of the Indo-Iranians |editor=J.P. Mallory |year=2007 |publisher=Brill |location=Leyden |isbn=978-9004160545|author-link=Elena Efimovna Kuzmina }}</ref>

[[File:Eran_pillar_of_Goparaja_(detail).jpg|thumb|The [[Bhanugupta|Eran pillar of Goparaja]] is considered as the earliest known Sati stone in India (circa 510 CE).<ref name=Vakataka>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OswUZtL1_CUC&q=sati+stone+510+ad&pg=PA190 |title=Vakataka – Gupta Age Circa 200–550 A.D.|page=190|isbn=9788120800267|last1=Majumdar|first1=Ramesh Chandra|last2=Altekar|first2=Anant Sadashiv|year=1986}}</ref> [[Bhanugupta|The inscription]] explains: he "went to heaven, becoming equal to [[Indra]], the best of the gods; and [his] devoted, attached, beloved, and beauteous wife, clinging [to him], entered into the mass of fire (funeral pyre)".<ref name=":10">{{cite book |last1=Fleet |first1=John Faithful |title=Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum Vol.3 (inscriptions Of The Early Gupta Kings) |page=354 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.108395/page/n457/mode/2up}}</ref><ref name="Vakataka"/> ]]

Sati as the burning of a widow with her deceased husband seems to have been introduced in the post-[[Gupta Empire|Gupta times]], after 500 CE.{{sfn|Thapar|2002|p=304}} [[Vidya Dehejia]] states that sati was introduced late into Indian society, and became regular only after 500 CE.{{sfn|Dehejia|1994|p=50}} According to [[Ashis Nandy]], the practice became prevalent from the 7th century onward and declined to its elimination in the 17th century to gain resurgence in Bengal in the 18th century.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Nandy|first=Ashis|title=Sati: A Nineteenth Century Tale of Women, Violence and Protest in the book "At the Edge of Psychology"|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1980|pages=1}}</ref> Historian [[Roshen Dalal]] postulates that its mention in some of the [[Puranas]] indicates that it slowly grew in prevalence from 5th–7th century and later became an accepted custom around 1000 CE among those of higher classes, especially the [[Rajputs]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DH0vmD8ghdMC&q=sati+shiva+greeks+widow&pg=PA363|last=Dalal |first=Roshen |year=2010 |title=Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide |publisher=Penguin Books India |page=363 |isbn=9780143414216 }}</ref>{{sfn|Yang|2008|p=21–23}} One of the stanzas in the [[Mahabharata]] describes [[Madri]]'s suicide by ''sati'', but is likely an [[Interpolation (manuscripts)|interpolation]] given that it has contradictions with the succeeding verses.<ref>{{Cite book|first=M. A.|last=Mehendale|url=http://archive.org/details/InterpolationsInTheMahabharata|title=Interpolations In The Mahabharata|pages=200–201}}</ref>

Padma Sree asserts that other evidence for some form of sati comes from [[Sangam literature]] in [[Tamilakam|Tamilkam]]: for instance the {{Transliteration|ta|[[Silappatikaram]]}} written in the 2nd century CE. In this tale, Kannagi, the chaste wife of her wayward husband Kovalan, burns Madurai to the ground when her husband is executed unjustly, then climbs a cliff to join Kovalan in heaven. She became an object of worship as a chaste wife, called [[Pattini]] in Sinhala and {{Transliteration|ta|Kannagiamman}} in Tamil, and is still worshipped today. An inscription in an urn burial from the 1st century CE tells of a widow who told the potter to make the urn big enough for both her and her husband. The {{Transliteration|ta|[[Manimekalai]]}} similarly provides evidence that such practices existed in Tamil lands, and the {{Transliteration|ta|[[Purananuru]]}} claims widows prefer to die with their husband due to the dangerous negative power associated with them. However she notes that this glorification of sacrifice was not unique to women: just as the texts glorified "good" wives who sacrificed themselves for their husbands and families, "good" warriors similarly sacrificed themselves for their kings and lands. It is even possible that the sacrifice of the "good" wives originated from the warrior sacrifice tradition. Today, such women are still worshipped as ''[[Village deities of South India|Gramadevatas]]'' throughout South India.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Padma|first=Sree|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199325023.001.0001|title=Vicissitudes of the Goddess|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199325023.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-932502-3}}</ref>

The memoirs of European merchants and travellers, as well the colonial era Christian missionaries of British India described Sati practices under Mughal rulers.<ref name=rajkumar173/> [[Ralph Fitch]] noted in 1591:<ref name="Ralf">{{cite book |last1=Horton |first1=Ryley, J. |title=Ralph Fitch |publisher=T. Fisher and Urwin |page=60 |url=https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.38807/2015.38807.Ralph-Fitch#page/n88/search/her+head+is+shauen |access-date=12 September 2018}}</ref>

|location=London}}</ref> Local Brahmins convinced the newly arrived [[Francisco Barreto]] to rescind the ban in 1555 in spite of protests from the local Christians and the Church authorities, but the ban was reinstated in 1560 by [[Constantino de Bragança]] with additional serious criminal penalties (including loss of property and liberty) against those encouraging the practice.<ref>{{cite book|title=Kaleidoscope of Women in Goa, 1510–1961|url=https://archive.org/details/kaleidoscopeofwo0000silv/page/91|page=91|publisher=Concept Publishing Company|first=Fatima|last=da Silva Gracias|isbn = 9788170225911}}</ref><ref>[http://www.goacom.com/culture/religion/gch/ To Cherish and to Share: The Goan Christian Heritage] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722224224/http://www.goacom.com/culture/religion/gch/ }} Paper presented at the 1991 Conference on Goa at the [[University of Toronto]] by: John Correia Afonso S.J. from: "South Asian Studies Papers", no 9; Goa: Goa Continuity and Change; Edited by Narendra K. Wagle and George Coelho; University of Toronto Centre for South Asian Studies 1995</ref>

[[File:Widow Buring in India (August 1852, p.84, IX) - Copy.jpg|thumb|Widow Burning in India (August 1852), by the Wesleyan Missionary Society<ref name="Juvenile1852">{{cite journal|title=Widow Burning in India|journal=The Wesleyan Juvenile Offering: A Miscellany of Missionary Information for Young Persons|volume=IX|page=84|url=https://archive.org/download/wesleyanjuvenil08socigoog/wesleyanjuvenil08socigoog.pdf|access-date=24 February 2016|publisher=Wesleyan Missionary Society}}</ref>]]

The first official British response to sati was in 1680 when the Agent of Madras [[Streynsham Master]] intervened and prohibited the burning of a Hindu widow <ref name="Stern2012">{{cite book|author=Philip J. Stern|title=The Company-State: Corporate Sovereignty and the Early Modern Foundations of the British Empire in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MpAVDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA95|access-date=29 April 2020|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-993036-4|pages=95–}}</ref><ref name="Muthiah2008">{{cite book|author=S. Muthiah|title=Madras, Chennai: A 400-year Record of the First City of Modern India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tbR_LLkqdI8C&pg=PA444|access-date=29 April 2020|year=2008|publisher=Palaniappa Brothers|isbn=978-81-8379-468-8|pages=444–}}</ref> in [[Madras Presidency]]. Attempts to limit or ban the practice had been made by individual British officers, but without the backing of the [[East India Company]]. This is because it followed a policy of non-interference in Hindu religious affairs and there was no legislation or ban against Sati.<ref name="Alka2018">{{cite book|author=Grover B.L. & Mehta Alka|title=A New Look at Modern Indian History (From 1707 to The Modern Times), 32e|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bkRxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA126|access-date=29 April 2020|year=2018|publisher=S. Chand Publishing|isbn=978-93-5253-434-0|page=127}}</ref> The first formal British ban was imposed in 1798, in the city of [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] only. The practice continued in surrounding regions. In the beginning of the 19th century, the evangelical church in Britain, and its members in India, started campaigns against ''sati''. This activism came about during a period when British missionaries in India began focusing on promoting and establishing Christian educational systems as a distinctive contribution of theirs to the missionary enterprise as a whole.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kathryn Kish Sklar|first=James Brewer Stewart|title=Women's Rights and Transatlantic Antislavery in the Era of Emancipation|pages=128}}</ref> Leaders of these campaigns included [[William Carey (missionary)|William Carey]] and [[William Wilberforce]]. These movements put pressure on the company to ban the act. William Carey, and the other missionaries at [[Serampore]] conducted in 1803–04 a census on cases of ''sati'' for a region within a 30-mile radius of Calcutta, finding more than 300 such cases there.<ref name=rajkumar173>{{cite book|last=Kumar|first=Raj|page=173|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ubRkhPM0ETMC&pg=PA173|title=Essays on Indian Renaissance|publisher=Discovery Publishing House|year=2003|isbn=978-8171416899}} Carey's actual figures for the year 1803 was 275; for the months April–October 1804, the missionaries arrived at the figure 115. For 1803 and 1804 statistics {{cite book|last=Buchanan|first=Claudius|pages=112–113|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PbEPAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA112|title=Two Discourses Preached Before the University of Cambridge ... July 1, 1810: And a Sermon Preached Before the Society for Missions to Africa and the East|year=1811|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge}} More detailed on figures in {{cite book|last1=Buchanan|first1=Claudius |year=1805|pages=102–104|url=https://archive.org/stream/memoirofexpedien00buch#page/n129/mode/2up|title=Memoir of the expediency of an ecclesiastical establishment for British India|publisher=T.Cadell and W.Davies|location=London}}</ref> The missionaries also approached Hindu theologians, who opined that the practice was encouraged, rather than enjoined by the [[Puranas|Hindu scriptures]].<ref name=hinduethics19>{{cite book|last1=Coward|first1=Harold| last2=Lipner | first2=Julius |author-link2=Julius J. Lipner|last3=Young | first3=Katherine | page=19|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=--WD-HSt-fYC |title=Hindu Ethics: Purity, Abortion, and Euthanasia |publisher=State University of New York Press |year=1989|isbn=0887067638}}</ref>{{sfn|Sharma|2001|pp=32–33}}

Serampore was a Danish colony, rather than British, and the reason why Carey started his mission in Danish India, rather than in British territories, was because the East India Company did not accept Christian missionary activity within their domains. In 1813, when the Company's Charter came up for renewal William Wilberforce, drawing on the statistics on ''sati'' collected by Carey and the other Serampore missionaries and mobilising public opinion against suttee, successfully ensured the passage of a Bill in Parliament legalising missionary activities in Indias, with a view to ending the practice through the religious transformation of Indian society. He stated in his address to the House of Commons:<ref>{{cite book|last1=Mangalwadi|first1=Vishal|title=Creating the Better Hour: Lessons from William Wilberforce|publisher=Stroud & Hall|year=2007|isbn=978-0979646218|editor-last=Stetson|editor-first=Chuck|location=Macon, GA|pages=140–142|chapter=India:Peril&Promise|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T2IyKWOm1YgC&pg=PA141}}</ref> <blockquote>Let us endeavour to strike our roots into the soil by the gradual introduction and establishment of our own principles and opinions; of our laws, institutions and manners; above all, as the source of every other improvement, of our religion and consequently of our morals</blockquote>[[Elijah Hoole]] in his book ''Personal Narrative of a Mission to the South of India, from 1820 to 1828'' reports an instance of Sati at Bangalore, which he did not personally witness. Another missionary, Mr. England, reports witnessing Sati in the [[Bangalore Cantonment|Bangalore Civil and Military Station]] on 9 June 1826. However, these practices were very rare after the Government of [[Madras Presidency|Madras]] cracked down on the practice from the early 1800s (p.&nbsp;82).<ref name=Hoole>{{cite book|last1=Hoole|first1=Elijah|title=Personal Narrative of a Mission to the South of India, from 1820 to 1828|publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/personalnarrati00hoolgoog/page/n263 332]|url=https://archive.org/details/personalnarrati00hoolgoog|quote=Elijah Hoole bangalore.|access-date=5 May 2015}}</ref><ref name="SI Nack">{{cite magazine|url=https://www.si.com/vault/1996/09/30/208924/muhammad-ali-joe-frazier-war-of-words |title='The Fight's Over, Joe' |magazine=Sports Illustrated |access-date=25 October 2016}}</ref>

The British authorities within the Bengal Presidency started systematically to collect data on the practice in 1815.{{citation needed}}

''Sati'' remained legal in some [[princely states]] for a time after it had been banned in lands under British control. [[Baroda State|Baroda]] and other princely states of [[Kathiawar Agency]] banned the practice in 1840,<ref>Proceedings – Indian History Congress – Volume 48 by Indian History Congress 1988 – p. 481, see also {{cite book|last=Thornton|first=Edward|year=1858|page=73, column 2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55BbvGEV5uAC&pg=PA73|title=A Gazetteer of the Territories Under the Government of the East India Company and of the Native States on the Continent of India|location=London|publisher=W.H. Allen}}</ref> whereas [[Kolhapur State|Kolhapur]] followed them in 1841,<ref>For 1841 proclamation, {{cite book |editor-last=Thomas |editor-first=R. Hughes |page=258 |publisher=Government |location=Bombay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b5lRAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA258 |title=Treaties, Agreements, and Engagements, Between the Honorable East India Company and the Native Princes, Chiefs, and States, in Western India, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, &c: Also Between Her Britannic Majesty's Government, and Persia, Portugal, and Turkey |year=1851}}</ref> the princely state of [[Indore]] some time before 1843.<ref>See footnote {{cite journal|editor=William Gifford|year=1851|pages=257–276|last=Wilson|first=Horca H.|title=Widow Burning-Major Ludlow |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TzwMAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA270|journal=The Quarterly Review|volume=89}}</ref> According to a speaker at the [[East India House]] in 1842, the princely states of [[History of Satara district|Satara]], [[Kingdom of Nagpur|Nagpur]] and [[Princely State of Mysore|Mysore]] had by then banned ''sati''.<ref>{{cite journal|page=286|title=Debate at the East India House, March 23rd 1842|volume=37|journal=The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M6VAAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA286|publisher=W.H. Allen|location=London}} The ''Raja of Satara'' banned the practice already in 1839, {{cite book|author=House of Commons, Great Britain|page=45, No. 1531|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dY8SAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA45|chapter=Papers relative to the Raja of Sattara|volume=39|title=Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|location=London}}</ref> [[Jaipur State|Jaipur]] banned the practice in 1846, while [[Hyderabad State|Hyderabad]], [[Gwalior State|Gwalior]] and [[Jammu and Kashmir (princely state)|Jammu and Kashmir]] did the same in 1847.<ref>On ''Hyderabad'' and ''Gwalior'' {{cite book|last=Trotter|first=James|page=97|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zIMfAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA97|title=The History of the British Empire in India|volume=1|year=1866|publisher=Wm. H. Allen & Company|location=London}}, ''Jammu and Kashmir'' {{cite journal|title=Bengal and Agra, Miscellaneous|journal=The Indian News and Chronicle of Eastern Affaires|page=76|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3dNAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA76|volume=132|publisher=Alexander E. Murray|location=London}}</ref> [[Awadh]] and [[Bhopal State|Bhopal]] (both Muslim-ruled states) were actively suppressing ''sati'' by 1849.<ref>[[William Sleeman]] travelling in Awadh in 1849 says sati is prohibited there. {{cite book|last=Sleeman|first=William H.|page=250|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_HkOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA250|title=A Journey Through the Kingdom of Oude in 1849–1850: With Private Correspondence Relative to the Annexation of Oude to British India|volume=2|year=1858|publisher=Richard Bentley|location=London}} Bhopal is reported in 1849 to engage actively in suppression of the rite, {{cite journal|page=712|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xtoEAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA712|title=Notes and suggestions on Indian Affairs, chapter VI|journal=The Dublin University Magazine|volume=34,204|location=Dublin|publisher=James McGlashan}}</ref> [[Cutch (princely state)|Cutch]] outlawed it in 1852<ref>{{cite book|last=Townsend|first=Meredith|year=1858|location=Serampore|publisher=Serampore Press|page=155|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AAcoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA155|title=The Indian Official Thesaurus: Being Introductory to Annals of Indian Administration}}</ref> with [[Jodhpur State|Jodhpur]] having banned ''sati'' about the same time.<ref>Finishing writing in April 1853, [[John William Kaye]] says Jodhpur is the most recent important state to have banned the rite. {{cite book|last=Kaye|first=John W.|page=[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.177534/page/n553 543]|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.177534|title=The Administration of the East India Company: A History of Indian Progress|location=London|year=1853|publisher=R. Bentley}}</ref>

The 1846 abolition in Jaipur was regarded by many British as a catalyst for the abolition cause within [[Rajputana]]; within 4 months after Jaipur's 1846 ban, 11 of the 18 independently governed states in Rajputana had followed Jaipur's example.<ref>A much quoted table given at page 270 in {{cite journal|editor=William Gifford|year=1851|pages=257–276|last=Wilson|first=Horca H.|title=Widow Burning-Major Ludlow |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TzwMAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA270|journal=The Quarterly Review|volume=89}}</ref> One paper says that in the year 1846–1847 alone, 23 states in the whole of India (not just within Rajputana) had banned ''sati''.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Bengal and Agra, Miscellaneous|journal=The Indian News and Chronicle of Eastern Affaires|page=76|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3dNAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA76|volume=132|publisher=Alexander E. Murray|location=London}}</ref><ref>Index of official correspondences to some 20 princely states relative to the suppression of ''sati'' can be found in {{cite book|author=Foreign and Political Department|pages=313–314|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YQIMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA313|title=A collection of treaties, engagements, and sunnuds, relating to India and neighbouring countries: Index|volume=8|year=1866|publisher=Cutter|location=Calcutta}}</ref> It was not until 1861 that ''Sati'' was legally banned in all the princely states of India, [[Udaipur State|Mewar]] resisting for a long time before that time. The last legal case of ''Sati'' within a princely state dates from 1861 [[Udaipur]] the capital of Mewar, but as Anant S. Altekar shows, local opinion had then shifted strongly against the practice. The widows of Maharanna Sarup Singh declined to become ''sati'' upon his death, and the only one to follow him in death was a concubine.<ref>{{cite book|last=Altekar|first=Anant S.|pages=141–142|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VYG4K0yYHQgC&pg=PA141|title=The Position of Women in Hindu Civilization: From Prehistoric Times to the Present Day|year=1956|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Pub|location=Delhi|isbn=9788120803244}}</ref> Later the same year, the general ban on ''sati'' was issued by a proclamation from [[Queen Victoria]].<ref>Sati: A Historical Anthology by Andrea Major – 2007– p. xvii ''On Mewar and Queen Victoria's 1861 proclamation'', {{cite book|last1=Brown|first1=Lindsay|last2=Thomas|first2=Amelia|page=42|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zz0_zXPb68kC&pg=PA43|title=Rajasthan, Delhi & Agra|publisher=Lonely Planet|year=2008|isbn=978-1741046908}}</ref>

In some princely states such as [[Travancore State|Travancore]], the custom of ''Sati'' never prevailed, although it was held in reverence by the common people. For example, the regent [[Gowri Parvati Bayi]] was asked by the [[Residencies of British India|British Resident]] if he should permit a ''sati'' to take place in 1818, but the regent urged him not to do so, since the custom of ''sati'' had never been acceptable in her domains.<ref>{{cite journal|volume=7, 198|page=383|publisher=James Burns|location=London|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e9HNAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA383|title=Tinnevelly|journal=Church of England Magazine}}</ref> In another state, Sawunt Waree ([[Sawantvadi]]), the king Khem Sawant III (r. 1755–1803) is credited for having issued a positive ''prohibition'' of sati over a period of ten or twelve years.<ref>p. 182 in {{cite journal|journal=The Oriental Herald|volume=2,6|title=Burning of Hindoo Widows|pages=173–185|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yo8eAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA182|publisher=J. M. Richardson|location=London|editor=James S. Buckingham}}</ref> That prohibition from the 18th century may never have been actively enforced, or may have been ignored, since in 1843, the government in Sawunt Waree issued a new prohibition of ''sati''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Townsend|first=Meredith|year=1858|location=Serampore|publisher=Serampore Press|page=307|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AAcoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA307|title=The Indian Official Thesaurus: Being Introductory to Annals of Indian Administration}}</ref>

Enforcement of these measures is not always consistent.<ref>{{cite news | title =  No violation of Sati Act, say police | url = http://www.hindu.com/2005/06/01/stories/2005060110150500.htm | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071206101700/http://www.hindu.com/2005/06/01/stories/2005060110150500.htm | url-status = dead | archive-date = 6 December 2007 | work = [[The Hindu]] | date = 6 June 2005 | access-date =  20 November 2007}}</ref> The National Council for Women (NCW) has suggested amendments to the law to remove some of these flaws.<ref>[http://ncw.nic.in/page2.htm No. 2: Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090619070016/http://ncw.nic.in/page2.htm }} National Council for Women, Proposed amendments to the 1987 Sati Prevention Act</ref> Prohibitions of certain practices, such as worship at ancient shrines, is a matter of controversy.

There were 30 reported cases of ''sati'' or attempted ''sati'' over a 44-year period (1943–1987) in India, the official number being 28.<ref name=thomaswb182>{{cite book|last=Weinberger-Thomas|first=Catherine|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ashesofimmortali0000wein/page/182 182]–185|url=https://archive.org/details/ashesofimmortali0000wein|url-access=registration|title=Ashes of Immortality: Widow-Burning in India|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago|year=1999|isbn=978-0226885681}}</ref><ref>[http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/lessons/lesson5/lesson5.php?s=3 Letter, Panduranga Joshi Kulkarni], [http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/index.html Women in World History] A project of the Center for History and New Media, [[George Mason University]].</ref> A well-documented case from 1987 was that of 18-year-old [[Roop Kanwar]].<ref name=thomaswb182/><ref name="rediff2002">{{cite web|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/aug/07mp.htm |title=Magisterial inquiry ordered into 'sati' incident |work=rediff.com |access-date=26 July 2010}}</ref> In response to this incident, additional legislation against ''sati'' practice was passed, first within the state of Rajasthan, then nationwide by the central government of India.<ref name="NRCW"/><ref name="Trial by fire"/>

In 2002, a 65-year-old woman by the name of Kuttu died after sitting on her husband's funeral pyre in [[Panna district]] of Madhya Pradesh.<ref name="rediff2002"/> On 18 May 2006, Vidyawati, a 35-year-old woman allegedly committed sati by jumping into the blazing funeral pyre of her husband in Rari-Bujurg Village, Fatehpur district, Uttar Pradesh.<ref>''The Times of India'', [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1538375.cms "Woman commits 'sati' in UP village"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101002080411/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1538375.cms }}, 19 May 2006.</ref>

On 11 October 2008 a 75-year-old woman, Lalmati Verma, committed ''sati'' by jumping into her 80-year-old husband's funeral pyre at Checher in the Kasdol block of Chhattisgarh's Raipur district; Verma killed herself after mourners had left the cremation site.<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-10-13/india/27900245_1_pyre-woman-jumps-cremation-ground |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105031805/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2008-10-13/india/27900245_1_pyre-woman-jumps-cremation-ground |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 November 2012 |title=Woman jumps into husband's funeral pyre |work=[[The Times of India]] |location=Raipur}}</ref>

The passing of The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 was seen as an unprecedented move to many in India, and was hailed as a new era in the Women's rights movement. Unfortunately, the enforcement of this law has been lacklustre at best. {{citation needed}}

The punishment for glorifying sati is a minimum one-year sentence that can be increased to seven years in prison and a minimum fine of 5,000 rupees that can be increased to 30,000 rupees.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pachauri |first1=S.K. |last2=Hamilton |first2=R.N.C. |title=SATI PROBLEM — PAST AND PRESENT |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44158159 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=63 |pages=898–908 |jstor=44158159 |issn=2249-1937}}</ref> This Section of the Act has become heavily criticised by both sides of the Sati debate. Proponents of Sati argue against it, claiming the practice to be a part of Indian culture.<ref name=":3" /> Simultaneously, those against the practice of Sati also question the practicality of such a law, since it may be interpreted in a manner so as to punish the victim.<ref name=":5" /> Enforcement aside, the existence of the law is debated as well.{{clarify}}{{citation needed}}

India is steeped in a heavily patriarchal system and their norms, making it difficult for even the most vigilant of authorities to enforce the 1987 Act.{{speculation inline}} An instance of this can be seen in 2002 where two police officers were attacked by a mob of approximately 1000 people when attempting to stop an instance of Sati.<ref name=":9" /> In India, the powers of the police remain structurally limited by the political elite.<ref name=":6" /> Their limited powers are compounded by “patriarchal values, religious freedoms, and ideologies"<ref name=":10" /> within India.  

Furthermore, enforcement of this law is easily circumnavigated by authorities by writing off cases of Sati as acts of suicide.<ref name=":7" /> This is attributed{{By whom}} to not only a hesitancy to prosecute when the punishment remains so severe, but also another indication of a deeply patriarchal society.{{citation needed}}

The Anglo-Indian press of the period proffered several accounts of alleged forcing of the woman. As an example, ''[[The Calcutta Review]]'' published accounts as the following one:{{blockquote|In 1822, the Salt Agent at Barripore, 16 miles south of Calcutta, went out of his way to report a case which he had witnessed, in which the woman was forcibly held down by a great bamboo by two men, so as to preclude all chance of escape. In Cuttack, a woman dropt herself into a burning pit, and rose up again as if to escape, when a washerman gave her a push with a bamboo, which sent her back into the hottest part of the fire.<ref>{{cite news| year= 1867| page=256 |title= Suttee| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qp4IAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA256|work=The Calcutta Review|volume=XLVI|publisher=R.C.LePage and Co.|location=Calcutta}}</ref> This is said to be based on the set of official documents.<ref>Papers relative to East India Affairs, viz., Hindoo Widows and Voluntary Immolations. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed. 1821–25, pp. 221–261, ''ibidem''</ref> Yet another such case appearing in official papers, transmitted into British journals, is case 41, page 411 here, where the woman was, apparently, thrown twice back in the fire by her relatives, in a case from 1821.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Oriental Herald| volume= 15,48| title=Official Papers laid before Parliament Respecting the burning of Hondoo Widows| pages=399–424|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BPIaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA411| location= London| publisher=James S. Buckingham|editor-first=J.S. |editor-last=Buckingham}}</ref>}}

An 1829 report by a Christian missionary organisation includes among other things, statistics on ''sati''. It begins with a declaration that "the object of all missions to the heathen is to substitute for these systems the Gospel of Christ", thereafter lists ''sati'' for each year over the period 1815–1824 which totals 5,369, followed by a statement that a total of 5,997 instances of women were burned or buried alive in the Bengal presidency over the 10-year period, i.e., average 600 per year. In the same report, it states that the Madras and Bombay presidencies totalled 635 instances of ''sati'' over the same ten-year period.<ref name=missionaryherald130>{{cite journal|pages=130–131|volume=25,4|journal=The Missionary Herald|title=Burning of Widows in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GsMPAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA130|publisher=American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions |location=Boston}}</ref> The 1829 missionary report does not provide its sources and acknowledges that "no correct idea can be formed of the number of murders occasioned by suttees", then states some of the statistics is based on "conjectures".<ref name=missionaryherald130/> According to Yang, these "numbers are fraught with problems".{{sfn|Yang|2008|p=23}}

Narayan H. Kulkarnee believes that ''sati'' came to be practised in medieval [[Maharashtra]] initially by the [[Maratha]] nobility claiming [[Rajput]] descent. Then, according to Kulkarnee, the practice of ''sati'' may have increased across caste distinctions as an honour-saving custom in the face of Muslim advances into the territory. But the practice never gained the prevalence seen in Rajasthan or Bengal, and social customs of actively dissuading a widow from committing ''sati'' are well established. Apparently not a single instance of forced ''sati'' is attested for the 17th and 18th centuries CE.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Kulkarnee|first1=Narayan H. |editor-last=Kusuman |editor-first=K.K |chapter=A Note on Sati in Maharashtra|pages=215–220|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4JqgSUSXDsC&pg=PA215|title=A Panorama of Indian Culture: Professor A. Sreedhara Menon Felicitation Volume|year=1990|publisher=Mittal Publications|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-8170992141}}</ref> Forced or not forced, there were several instances of women from the Bhosale family committing sati. One was Shivaji's eldest childless widow, [[Putalabai]], committing sati after her husband's death.One controversial case was that of Chhatrapati Shahu's widow being forced to commit sati due to political intrigues regarding succession at the Satara court following Shahu's death in 1749.The most "celebrated" case of sati was that of Ramabai, the widow of Brahmin Peshwa [[Madhavrao I]] committing sati in 1772 on her husband's funeral pyre.This was considered unusual because unlike "kshatriya" widows, Brahmin widows very rarely followed the practice.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1YSU9Qp9w0MC|title=Images of Women in Maharashtrian Literature and Religion|last=Feldhaus|first=Anne|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=9780791428382|language=en|pages=181–188|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180324034030/https://books.google.com/books?id=1YSU9Qp9w0MC|archive-date=2018-03-24}}</ref>

A few records exist from the [[Princely State of Mysore]], established in 1799, that say permission to commit ''sati'' could be granted. Dewan (prime minister) [[Purnaiah]] is said to have allowed it for a Brahmin widow in 1805,<ref>{{cite book|last=Pinto|first=Janet|page=115|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O5MuPfDa468C&pg=PA115|title=The Indian Widow: From Victim To Victor|year=2002|publisher=St Pauls BYB|location=Mumbai|isbn=978-8171085330}}</ref> whereas an 1827 eye-witness to the burning of a widow in [[Bangalore]] in 1827 says it was rather uncommon there.<ref>{{cite journal|editor=Buckingham, James Silk|author=Eye-witness|title=Suttee at Bangalore|pages=281–285|volume=LVI|journal=The Oriental Herald|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ohxUAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA281}}</ref>

''Shrap'', or curses, are also within the ''sativrata'''s power, associated with remonstrations on members of the family for how they have failed. One woman cursed her in-laws when they brought neither a horse nor a drummer to her pyre, saying that whenever in future they might have need of either (and many religious rituals require the presence of such a thing), it would not be available to them. {{citation needed}}

[http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/rigveda/rv10018.htm Hymn XVIII. Various Deities.], ''Rig Veda'', tr. by [[Ralph T. H. Griffith]] (1896)</ref> A reason given for the discrepancy in translation and interpretation of verse 10.18.7, is that one consonant in a word that meant house, ''yonim agree'' ("foremost to the ''yoni''"), was deliberately changed by those who wished claim scriptural justification, to a word that meant fire, ''yomiagne''.<ref>O. P. Gupta, "The Rigveda: Widows don't have to burn", ''[[The Asian Age]]'', 23 October 2002, available at [http://www.hindu-religion.net/showflat/cat/hinduism/67586/0/collapsed/5/o/1 Hindu-religion.net] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060222092234/http://www.hindu-religion.net/showflat/cat/hinduism/67586/0/collapsed/5/o/1 }}.</ref>

The four works, [[Manusmriti|{{IAST|Manusmṛti}}]] (200 BCE–200 CE), {{IAST|[[Yājñavalkya Smṛti]]}} (200–500 CE), {{IAST|[[Nāradasmṛti]]}} (100 BCE–400 CE) and the {{IAST|[[Viṣṇusmṛti]]}} (700–1000 CE) are the principal [[Smrti]] works in the [[Dharmaśāstra]] tradition, along with the Parasara Smrti, composed in the latter period, rather than in the earlier.{{citation needed}}

The first three principal smrtis{{typo help inline|reason=similar to smritis}}, those of Manu, Yājñavalkya and Nārada, do not contain any mention of sati.{{sfn|Brick|2010|pp=203–223}}

[[Moriz Winternitz]] states that Brihaspati Smriti prohibits burning of widows.<ref name=winternitz>{{cite book|last1=Winternitz|first1=M|title=History of Indian Literature, Vol. 3|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-8120800564|page=598|quote=Quote: The Brihaspati-Smriti is in fact a kind of Varttika on the Manava-Dharmasastra. It prohibits burning of widows.}}</ref> Brihaspati Smriti was authored after the three principal smritis of Manu, Yājñavalkya and Nārada.<ref name=winternitz/>

Reform and [[bhakti]] movements within Hinduism favoured egalitarian societies, and in line with the tenor of these beliefs, generally condemned the practice, sometimes explicitly. The 12th-century [[Virashaiva]] movement condemned the practice.<ref>[http://www.lingayat.com/alingayat/alingayat.asp "About Lingayat"] on lingayat.com  {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050205043742/http://www.lingayat.com/alingayat/alingayat.asp }}</ref> Later, [[Swaminarayan|Sahajananda Swami]], the founder of [[Vaishnavism|Vaishnavite]] [[Swaminarayana]] sampradaya preached against sati in the 18th century in western India.

In [[Jules Verne]]'s novel ''[[Around the World in Eighty Days]]'', Phileas Fogg rescues [[Princess Aouda]] from forced sati.<ref name="Verne">{{cite book |last1=Verne |first1=Jules |title=Around the World in 80 Days |publisher=James R. Osgood and Company |location=Boston |pages=83–98 |url=https://archive.org/details/Aroundworldineig00vern_201303/page/n157/mode/2up |access-date=29 May 2022}}</ref>

  | chapter = Chapter 6, Can the Subaltern Speak? | publisher = Sage Publications | year = 2008}}</ref> The woman who commits sati takes the form of the [[Subaltern (postcolonialism)|subaltern]] in Spivak's work, a form much of [[Postcolonialism|postcolonial]] studies takes very seriously.{{citation needed}}

The 2005 novel ''[[The Ashram]]'' by Indian writer [[Sattar Memon]], deals with the plight of an oppressed young woman in India, under pressure to commit suttee and the endeavours of a western spiritual aspirant to save her.{{citation needed}}

* {{cite journal |last=Garzilli |first=Enrica |title=First Greek and Latin Documents on Sahagamana and Some Connected Problems (Part 1) |url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/indo/1997/00000040/00000003/00072348;jsessionid=og713ih0tc8h.victoria |journal=Indo-Iranian Journal |volume=40 |issue=3 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071002020930/http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/klu/indo/1997/00000040/00000003/00072348;jsessionid=og713ih0tc8h.victoria |archive-date=2 October 2007}}

* {{citation|last=Vijaykumar|first=Lakshmi|chapter=Hindu religion and suicide in India|title=Oxford Textbook on Suicidology and Suicide Prevention|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=24–25|isbn=978-0-19-257371-1|editor=Danuta Wasserman|editor-link=Danuta Wasserman|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8q4SEAAAQBAJ}}

* Maja Daruwala, [http://www.pucl.org/from-archives/Gender/sati.htm A History of Sati Legislation in India] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130622063508/http://www.pucl.org/from-archives/Gender/sati.htm }}, People's Union for Civil Liberties.