Firstly, the entire base of the British argument was on the assumption that the indigenous people strictly followed religious scripture as a way of life. In 1987, in the village of Deorala in Rajasthan, an 18-year-old married woman named Roop Kanwar was forced to become sati when her husband died after eight months of marriage. For example, the ancient and sacred Atharvaveda, one of the four Vedas, believed to have been composed around 1000 BCE, describes a funerary ritual where the widow lies down by her deceased husband, but is then asked to descend, to enjoy the blessings from the children and wealth left to her. The fabric is characterized by a smooth surface and usually a lustrous face and dull back; it is made in a wide variety of weights for various uses, including dresses, particularly evening wear; linings; bedspreads; and upholstery. [48] In Book 10 of Quintus Smyrnaeus' Posthomerica (lines 467ff. From Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, where the widow typically was placed in a hut along with her husband, her leg was tied to one of the hut's pillars. The poor little creature appeared more dead than alive when she approached the dreadful pit: the agony of her mind cannot be described; she trembled and wept bitterly; but three or four of the Brahmens, assisted by an old woman who held her under the arm, forced the unwilling victim toward the fatal spot, seated her on the wood, tied her hands and feet, lest she should run away, and in that situation the innocent creature was burnt alive. [75], European travellers in the Mughal empire noted the practice, with Ralph Fitch noting in 1591:[76]. If I delay an hour to translate and publish this, many a widow’s life may be sacrificed,' he said. In 1861, Queen Victoria issued a proclamation banning sati throughout her domain in India. [81] The Danes, who held the small territories of Tranquebar and Serampore, permitted it until the 19th century. However, although the satimata's intentions are always for the good of the family, she is not averse to letting children become sick, for example, or the cows' udders to wither, if she thinks this is an appropriate lesson to the living wife who has neglected her duties as pativrata. [190], According to Ramashraya Sharma, there is no conclusive evidence of the sati practice in the Ramayana. Satimata denotes a venerated widow who committed sati. 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. They may have been drugged, thrown into the fire, or tied up before being placed on the pyre or into the grave. As an example, The Calcutta Review published accounts as the following one: 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. Some say women would jump or walk into the pyre after it had been lit, while others report that women would sit on the pyre and then light it themselves. [94] He was at loggerheads with Hindu groups which did not want the Government to interfere in religious practices.[10]. It was a voluntary act in which, as a sign of being a dutiful wife, a woman followed her husband to the afterlife. [159], The Madurai Nayak dynasty (1529–1736 CE) seems to have adopted the custom in larger measure, one Jesuit priest observing in 1609 Madurai the burning of 400 women at the death of Nayak Muttu Krishnappa.

Though the priestly class throughout India was aware of them and the practice itself by 12th century. [89][90], Serampore was a Danish colony, rather than British, and the reason why Carey started his mission in Danish India, rather than in British, was because The East India Company did not accept Christian missionary activity within their domains. [43] A Chinese pilgrim from the 15th century seems to attest the practice on islands called Ma-i-tung and Ma-i (possibly Belitung (outside Sumatra) and Northern Philippines, respectively). The term sati was originally interpreted as "chaste woman". He considered sati a form of suicide, which was forbidden by the Vedas: Medhatithi offered a second reason against sati, calling it against dharma (adharma).

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