SUICIDOLOGI 2013, ÅRG. 18, NR. 1

Sati – suicide by widows sanctioned by Hindu scriptures and society? By Latha Nrugham

Introduction It is not a contract between two indivi- such as distress about and fear of damage duals but is the union of two individuals to body issue and death itself, in addition In , is the term usually applied to a Hindu widow dressed as a bride coming together in all ways to support to being endowed with the ability to ceremoniously ascending alive the funeral each other for the goals of life laid down endure fire in silence. A wife, who was pyre of her dead husband and being burnt in the Vedic scriptures. also a mother or pregnant, could not to ashes on that pyre. Such a person is I refer to the Vedic scriptures because consider sati, as that would make the said to have become a sati by this deed, they are several texts, not one book. These child an orphan. texts can be grouped into two: Shruti one who did not become a widow, but Sati in the Vedic scriptures remained a wife until her last breath. (heard) and Smriti (remembered). Shruti Outside India, the word sati is commonly has verses that are composed as a result Vedic scriptures do not have a central understood as suicide sanctioned by Hindu of stable consciousness states of insight authority like the Pope for Christians or scriptures and widely practiced in India resulting from deep meditation for several even organised dissemination of its con- today. In order to comment on this under- years and has three divisions: the four tents like Islamic madrassas (schools of standing, I will first describe sati in the Vedas, the main Upanishads and the Quran) or the Sunday schools of Christi- Hindu scriptures and then present sati in Brahmasutras. On the other hand, Smriti anity. They wait for the ordinary individual practice today. Marriage is a sacred invio- is composed by human intelligence in the to approach them and work their own lable bond, according to Vedic (Hindu in ordinary waking consciousness and con- ways through the maze of syntax and popular imagination and usage) scriptures. tains a mix of historical and metaphorical semantics before taking notice. However, stories. Whenever there is a conflict the vast majority of persons in society between the Shruti and the Smriti, Shruti could not be left without spiritual know- ABSTRACT has precedence in all ways. Smriti changes ledge. And the potential for the others over time and adjusts to changing social becoming deviated from/weakened in The word sati is commonly under- conditions. Shruti endures all social their resolve to pursue individual spiritual stood as suicide by self-immolating changes. I present my understanding after goals being high, the scriptures had to be so pervasive in society that all human widows widely practiced in India today a long study of texts from both, Shruti beings encountered the same contents, and sanctioned by ancient Hindu and Smriti. I have not examined all the in some form or the other, during daily scriptures, although it is also claimed Vedic texts, yet claim that I possess an life. Therefore, the spiritual knowledge that Hindu scriptures condemn suicide. understanding of the main texts which (shruti) which a brahmin (teachers of Without delving into details, the is adequate to comment on sati in them. spiritual knowledge, preferably after self- scriptural understanding of sati and Meaning of the word sati verification, but maybe applied to all those the history of sati alongwith its The word 'sati' has many meanings, as is whose wealth is knowledge, any knowledge) practice today will be described and usual in Sanskrit. The most easily under- was expected to learn, grasp, realise and discussed. Is sati suicide or is it stood meaning is: she who is the embodi- share to a greater extent with competent something else, for example, murder? ment of truth (sat = truth, i = indicative others was made simple and spread through- of feminity). Another meaning is she who hout society in the form of stories (smriti) Ordet sati blir gjerne forstått som et is the personification of spiritual know- that could capture the imagination of ledge itself, the consort of the personifica- and be understood by even children. utbredt hindurituale av enker som tion of Absolute Auspiciousness (shiva). Abstract concepts are personified and tenner på seg selv til døden sammen Yet another meaning is that of a faithful named in a slightly disguised or undis- med sine ektemenn, som foreskrevet wife, as her resolve and words are equal guised manner in these stories so that i gamle hinduskrifter, selv om det også to truth itself. It is this third meaning relationships could be easily understood hevdes at hinduskriftene fordømmer that is one of the two commonly used by the simplest of minds with minimal selvmord. Forståelsen av sati og satis meanings today. Another meaning of sati effort, for example: Dharma (righteous- historie, samt dagens praksis i India, understood today is of a wife who decides ness) marries Daya (compassion) to beget blir i denne artikkelen beskrevet to ascend while still alive, the funeral pyre Abhaya (fearlessness), Dharma marries og diskutert. Er sati selvmord eller of her dead husband making his funeral Unnati (growth through accomplishment) noe annet – for eksempel mord? pyre equally hers. Such a person was and to beget Darpa (superciliousness/ contempt is considered equal to divinity, having for others), Dharma marries Pushti (abun- transcended, while alive, human qualities dance) to beget Garva (pride/arrogance), LEVERT: 01/12-12 REVIDERT: 09/04-13 AKSEPTERT: 19/04-13

18 Sati – suicide by widows sanctioned by Hindu scriptures and society? SUICIDOLOGI 2013, ÅRG. 18, NR. 1

Krodha (anger) marries Himsa (violence), Suruchi (one who is pleasant/tends towards the pleasures) has Kumati (unhealthy intellectual qualities) as her servant and Sumati (one who is ruled by the intellect, not the emotions and therefore tends away from pleasures) as her elder co-wife, Jatila WICIMEDIA COMMONS (rigidity) is the sister of Abhimanyu (one who is quick to defend his personal pride). It is in these smriti stories that one first comes across the word 'sati', among Kshatriyas, the rulers, warriors and administrators. Manusmriti, one of the texts which has no stories but provides codes of conduct and was considered important from the 1800s to the 1900s, does not mention 'sati' as a practice for young widows. There are verses in some Smriti texts which support or encourage sati as one of the The Sati of Ramabai, wife of Madhavrao Peshwa (reigned 1761–1772), circa 1772–1775 courses open to a widow. However, these texts are not considered to be of high Sati – in practice cate that the burning of widows were not status even within the Smriti itself and An incident in 1987 in where isolated incidents then. It is important therefore have no status at all as guide a young wife ascended the funeral pyre to note that Brahmo Samaj was from for living life or dying. One of these Smriti Bengal, in the north-east of India. The of her husband in the presence of a crowd texts forbid sati for Brahmin widows. The property laws of Bengal provide an equal watching this event sent shock waves Mahabharata, one of the two epics and part for widows as it did to other inheri- throughout India which sat up for yet part of Smriti, mentions a widow, Madri, tors. The widows of Bengal have suffered another round of introspection. Her death who chose to accompany her husband much on account of these laws by being was followed by a court trial of the in- on the funeral pyre. Madri was the youn- socially ostracised, burnt or simply cast laws and family members of the widow, out to fend for themselves in any way ger wife and considered herself respon- for murder, which ended in acquittal in sible for her husband's death. Overcome they can, purely in order to deprive them 2004. The Prevention of Sati Act was also of their rightful inheritance. Bengal has by guilt, not just the distress of bereave- passed in 1987 which made it illegal to ment, she is the only person in the scrip- documented 706 cases of sati in a single abet, glorify or attempt to commit sati. year: 1817; the same year when Bengal tures who chose this way to die, despite Abetment of sati, including coercing or was hit hard by a cholera pandemic being mother of two young sons. Her forcing someone to commit sati is punish- (Sarkar & Sarkar, 2008). decision or death is neither referred to able by death sentence or life imprison- What could motivate a woman to ascend as sati nor glorified in any manner in the ment, while glorifying sati is punishable alive a funeral pyre, during peace times, Mahabharata. Neither is it condemned. with 1 to 7 years in prison. Due to the apart from political goals? Is it suicide, Although attempts to make Madri recon- consistent efforts of a well-known social sanctioned by scriptures? As she does not sider her decision were made, she was reformer, Raja Ram Mohan Roy and pressure live to enjoy worldly gains, could such a not forced to live. Madri's co-wife, Prtha, from his group, the Brahmo Samaj, the death be an escape route from the ascetic lived on as a widowed mother and single- British government banned sati in 1829 life that she is expected to lead as a widow handedly brought up all five sons of her (Sarkar & Sarkar, 2008). Before them, the or is it an emotional decision due to the husband. Prtha's decision or life is neither Mughal rulers from Persia, under pressure distress of the bereavement? Without glorified nor condemned. The ceremonies due to the social reforms carried out by children, young and perhaps beautiful, and festivals which Hindus follow, have the Sikh Gurus, had also passed laws and would such a death be preferable to possible their roots in Smriti stories, hence the decrees, banning sati. These very processes sexual assaults from any male stronger attitudes in the Smriti on events are of social reform leading to the legal banning than the ones who could protect her, or important. sati by the Mughals and the British indi- even worse, from her very protectors?

Sati – suicide by widows sanctioned by Hindu scriptures and society? 19 SUICIDOLOGI 2013, ÅRG. 18, NR. 1

Or is this a clamp-down on her sexuality condemnation but is presented as a and fertility from being expressed in any description of the individual's intolerable

manner, from being used by other males, WIKIPEDIA inner agony. Murder, on the other hand, who might even want to marry her? Is it is condemned repeatedly and clearly, even disguised murder, sanctioned by scriptures? if it is attempt to murder. There is a verse Or is it seen as a short-cut to moksha, in the Isha Upanishad which is often skipping the stages of spiritual develop- quoted as condemning suicide. However, ment? Could she have been inspired by the Shruti, to which the Isha Upanishad jauhar to make a go for glory in ballads belongs, has as its subject matter, the and be remembered by sati stones wor- journey of the inner self to the Self, and shipped by chaste wives and husbands not the physical body. The interpretation desiring chaste wives? Old sati stones, of the word aatma, which translates as with handprints, raised in memory of 'self' is a word which has given rise to women who ascended the funeral pyres the several schools of theosophical of their dead husbands are found in thought, as it is seen to be used for the several places in North India. body, the personality, the individual, the Mass media reports indicate that 'sati' mind, the individual soul and the universal continues in India today, with one incident soul. in 1999 (aged 55 years), one in 2002 Self-immolation, a physical act, regard- (aged 65 years), two in 2006 (aged 35 less of whether it results in death, is a and 45 years) and one in 2008 (aged 71 dramatic and horrifying event to the one years). The word sati is used to refer to who does it and also to those who witness these dead women, although none of them it or come to know about it. The historians had indicated in any manner that they of Alexander from Macedonia report that intended to become sati and neither have a holy man, Kalanus, who had chosen to their deaths been ceremonious. Commis- be with Alexander from India had immo- sions set up by the government to enquire lated himself amongst the Greeks and into these events over and above the in- Handprints of Satis from the royal family of Jodhpur Macedonians when he realised that he had vestigation by the local police and the under any form, no matter how well- become a slave to tasty food (McCrindle, mass media did not lead to any court disguised, as one of the first steps towards 1896). This punishment that he accorded trials, indicating that all three kinds of spiritual life in the Vedic scriptures is ahimsa to himself, Alexander's historians state, detailed and independent examinations (Johnston, 1912). Ahimsa is the practice was done as ceremoniously and in full could not bring any punishable offence of non-violence at the thought level, not public view as a sati has been described or condemnable event to light (Kishwar, just verbal or physical levels. No physical by foreign travellers from the west of the 2008). The prevalence is therefore not austerity, not even burning oneself, can Sindhu river to India, such as Alberuni worth estimating, but it is disturbing that lead to moksha, as moksha being an inner who accompanied the invader Mahmud these events are considered as sati today. goal is completely dependent on the inner of Ghazni (Sachau, 1910), and Marco Polo The use of the word sati in such a context journey, the dissolution of the inner self, who is said to have inspired Christopher points to the need for someone alive to not the burning of the outer physical body. Columbus. However, I have not come benefit from the death of these women The instances mentioned in the stories across any mention of sati being a self- in some manner. of the Smritis are abstract concepts punishment. These detailed accounts refer The Vedic scriptures do not sanction presented as personifications. The inci- to beautiful, fearless and proud women suicide, except as an optional penance dents observed in the last decades have being borne ceremoniously or to beautiful for an offence by a brahmin, as a brahmin more to do with social circumstances of women whose screams for help are drow- cannot be punished by anyone else. the mourning widows than spiritual ned by loud drums and their attempts to Individual spiritual goals are to be pur- sanction or goal, according to investiga- escape the fire are hindered actively by sued by the individual who chose those tions by social activists and journalists someone in the audience. Some travellers goals and no other individual could act (Kishwar, 2008). When attempted suicide have been so touched by these events as proxy, not even a wife or a guru. Logi- is mentioned in the Smriti, for example, that they have painted what they saw cally, spiritual goals cannot sanction murder, of the highly respected sage Vashishta, (Hardgrave, 1998). it is not accompanied by glorification or

20 Sati – suicide by widows sanctioned by Hindu scriptures and society? SUICIDOLOGI 2013, ÅRG. 18, NR. 1

Number of Dowry Deaths in India from 1989 to 2011 On the other hand, the accounts of Chinese travellers to ancient India do not mention N sati at all, although they also described 14 000 the ordinary and the extraordinary in India in fairly comparable detail. I am not sure 13 000 how this absence of a reference to sati 12 000 from the accounts of Chinese travellers such as Huein Tsang, who came to India 11 000 to study Buddhism can be explained. Self- 10 000 immolation is even today used as a manner of political protest, with Buddhists from 9 000 Veitnam and Tibet being the most recent 8 000 examples. Did the Chinese travellers con- sider the instances of widows dressed up 7 000 as brides and ascending the funeral pyres 6 000 of their husbands as a political protest of the condition of widows and therefore 5 000 chose to remain silent? Or was it that they did not consider it worth mentioning 4 000 because widows in ancient China had a 3 000 somewhat similar fate? I do not know. 2 000 Jauhar 1 000 Another situation in which a wife would ascend alive a funeral pyre is known as 0 Year 'jauhar' (Arabic for Hindi jivhar = to loose 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 one's life). This practice is not allowed for a mother either and has the avoidance Data source: National Crime Records Bureau, India (http://ncrb.nic.in/) of rape of women by invaders as its sole objective. This practice came into being This ascension was the last act performed war and the women's group in which the and stayed in use when Islamic invaders within the closed fort as the rest of the ascension to the funeral pyre takes place. into Rajasthan, a north-western state of populace would have fled to safer places. Dowry deaths – modern day India, came in such strengths that it was Such ascensions, therefore, had no wit- extremely clear that the men who went nesses. However, the oral and documented version of sati? to battle them would not return alive. The accounts of the invading victors turned Self-immolation, in the India of the 1980s, departure of men on this suicide mission these women into legends sung by bards was seen to alarming extents among young was known as shaka and their only objective and recited in ballads. The last known brides, mainly Hindus in North India. I was to inflict maximum damage on the incident of jauhar was during the reign remember that I read about atleast one invading army by killing as many as pos- of , the Mughal who was the grand- such death every day in the newspapers sible. Before they left for certain death father of the builder of the Taj Mahal. during the early 1980s. These burnt brides on the battlefield, their wives informed The practice of jauhar does not have a would not give even a dying declaration them of their decision to ascend the pyre, spiritual goal. It is a collective suicide against their husbands and in-laws, so that the warriors knew that: (a) their pact only for kshatriyas at the lost end neither to the medical professionals and wives would not be raped by the victors of a war, and also an individual choice. the police nor the judiciary who were in order to bear the children of the inva- A jauhar cannot take place without the called to their hospital bedsides. It was ders as an insult to their community and shaka and neither does the shaka take only when women activists were called (b) this was the final battle as there was place without a jauhar, both decisions to their bed-sides that the tales of uni- no wife to return to. The women who indicating the absence of any hope of maginable horror began to emerge. ascended the pyre thus were led by the successful defence of the fort or them- What was until then accepted as suicides queen. They would also be dressed as selves. Jauhar, clearly suicide, is distin- or accidents by young brides unable to brides, in full jewellery, so that the victors guished from sati due to the context of adjust to the pressures of newly married came into an 'empty house'. life, now began to be called dowry deaths,

Sati – suicide by widows sanctioned by Hindu scriptures and society? 21 SUICIDOLOGI 2013, ÅRG. 18, NR. 1

as brides began to give dying declarations 304 (B) of the Indian Penal Code (see no longer wished to be. She did not acquire to women activists who would be present Graph 1). Most, if not all, of these dead the name Sati after her immolation, she whenever the dying bride was admitted or burnt brides, were married into Hindu was given that name on birth by her to the hospital by those very in-laws and families. Their deaths and lives, demonstrate, parents. husband who had done their best to burn exactly how these families had nothing The probability of a wife ascending alive her to death because she had failed to to do with the Vedic scriptures or what the funeral pyre of her dead husband for pressurize her father to give more gifts is popularly known as Hinduism, but were the spiritual goal of moksha and attaining to her. Dowry, essentially the financial so consumed by greed that they did not it is null, with no known precedents. Every security that her family of origin can give hesitate to kill a young bride in order to other instance of sati is murder, by com- to their daughter, had become a demand bring in another bride. I waited in vain mission or omission, motivated by greed. for gifts to the husband and in-laws, for girls and their families to take stands When brides are burnt so openly for greed, failing which she could be murdered. that they would not marry into families widows can be burnt more easily, without The sheer numbers and the horror of demanding dowries. Social pressure to even a suspicion of murder clouding the each dying bride brought to light by women get married and stay married was so high presentation of a suicide or accident. activists and journalists made the govern- that the young women of North India ment of India speedily pass a law against risked death by burning, and their families such events and processes, by adding a of origin risked sending their daughters Latha Nrugham, dr. sub-section to the Indian Penal Code off to one of the most painful deaths philos., forsker 100 % itself. This rare event of changing the stilling. Nrugham jobber possible, yet did not go against the med kliniske og ikke- Code in 1984 stands today as section 498 dominance of families with males eligible kliniske studier relatert til (A), under which a mere complaint to the for marriage. Those who were affected selvmordsforsøk blant police by a wife within 3 years of her most, did not protest, even by a whisper voksne og ungdom. wedding can not only bring her husband or a glance. They submitted meekly to and in-laws under the ambit of severe and murder masquerading as suicide or acci- swift criminal proceedings, but also make dents for more than five unfathomable them loose their jobs, if employed by the years as these deaths spread across the References government in any form. In 1986, the Code cities and towns of most of North India Hardgrave R.Jr. 1998. The Representation of Sati: was changed again, whereby a non- and included the even then cosmopolitan Four Eighteenth Century Etchings by Baltazard Solvyns. In: Bengal: Past and Present. Vol 117. natural death of the wife within seven Mumbai. The burning of women whose Calcutta Historical Society, 1998. http://www.laits. years of marriage made it a crime attribu- presence is found inconvenient despite utexas.edu/solvyns-project/Satiart.rft.html table to her husband and her relatives an unfettered claim on her fertility leaves Johnston C, 1912. Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. under section 304 (B). no doubt as to the possibility of the killing http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/ysp/ysp00.htm. The intent of the government was de- of women by burning, whether disguised McCrindle, J.W. 1896. The Invasion of India by Alex- monstrated in a few cases so well that as sati, or accident or suicide of widows ander The Great. A Constable & Co, West-minister. http://archive.org/details/invasionofindiab 00mccr dowry deaths declined sharply but are whose fertility no longer has a male family Kishwar, M. 2008. Deadly Laws and Zealous Refor- again rising now (http:// pib.nic.in/newsite member as a claimant. Dowry deaths mers: The Conflicting Interpretations and Politics /PrintRelease.aspx?relid=78178) - one have been considered to be modern day Of Sati. In: Zealous Reformers, Deadly Laws: Battling death almost every hour. Anyone who sati by leading Indian sociologists Stereotypes. New Delhi, India ; Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 2008. brings even a hint of any process which (Srinivas, 1984). Sachau, E. 1910. Alberuni's India. http://www. can come under section 498(A) or 304 (B), columbia.edu/cu/lweb/digital/collections/cul/texts usually receives attention from the police. Conclusion /ldpd_5949073_001/pages/ldpd_5949073_001_0 This is not merely because the policemen/ The Vedic scriptures describe a person 0000007.html women sympathise with the young wives known as Sati (Truth) who used her inner Sarkar S & Sarkar T. (Eds.) Women and Social in distress but also because if that police powers to create a fatal fire. She killed Reform in Modern India. A Reader. Indiana University Press. 2008. person's superiors come to know about herself by fire in extreme anger and severe Srinivas, M.N. Some Reflections on Dowry. Oxford any such delay or denial, that police person distress, not because of the death of her University Press, Delhi. 1984. can risk loosing his/her job. As a young husband, Shiva (Auspiciousness, Absolute Indian woman, I was witness to these Truth), but because of the humiliation of changes in urban and semi-urban India, her husband by her father Daksha (skill from the vast numbers of brides dying in action), the scriptures state. Her self- by 'suicide' or accidents in the kitchen destruction was a unmistakable protest to the presence of sections 498 (A) and against her father, whose daughter she

22 Sati – suicide by widows sanctioned by Hindu scriptures and society?