How Sati Went from Myth to a Social Evil in India

Religious and cultural practices can be corrupted to justify oppression

Author Amish Tripathi released a podcast where he said that sati was exaggerated by the British to malign ancient Indian culture. He said sati was rare in India. But that's not true. Sati was a social evil when the British were in India.

The practice of sati - where a widow was burned alive on her husband's funeral pyre - stands as one of history's most complex and disturbing social phenomena. Its evolution from ancient mythology to a coercive social practice reveals how religious myths can be distorted to justify oppression.

The Mythological Origins

The earliest Sanskrit texts make no mention of sati (also known as sahagamana). The Vedas, Hinduism's oldest scriptures, actually contain passages describing widows being asked to rise and rejoin the living after lying beside their deceased husbands - a ritual that symbolized life's triumph over death. Far from asking widows to kill themselves, it welcomed them back to the world after a "symbolic" death.

The Mahabharata, one of India's great epics, contains what many consider the first reference to sati through the story of Madri. Madri was Pandu's second wife and the mother of Nakul and Sahadev. Pandu suffered a curse that he and his paramour would die if they got intimate with each other. One day, Pandu and Madri were unable to control themselves. Early versions of the Mahabharata says Madri died instantly when Pandu touched here. Later versions say only Pandu died and Madri supposedly performed sati with her husband's body later. This suggests the sati reference was likely added centuries after the original text was written.

Early Historical Evidence

The earliest documented foreign observation of sati comes from Greek accounts around 300 BCE, when Alexander's soldiers reported seeing it practiced near the Indus River. The first concrete Indian evidence appears much later - a 510 CE inscription at Eran in Central India. This significant time gap suggests the practice was either rare or emerged gradually.

Between 500-1500 CE, sati gained prominence among warrior communities, particularly in regions ruled by the Chalukyas, Pallavas, Cholas, and Vijayanagara Empire. These kingdoms raised 'sati stones' to commemorate women who died with their warrior husbands. The practice was initially voluntary and rare, limited mostly to royal families and military elite. Sati stones have been found in Odisha and Madurai (Tamil Nadu) in recent years.

With Islamic invasions came a related but distinct practice called Jauhar - mass self-immolation by women to avoid capture. While sati involved individual widows, Jauhar was a collective act performed during military defeats. Over time, these practices merged in public consciousness, leading to wider acceptance of widow immolation across North and Central India.

The Bengal Crisis

By the 18th century, sati had become particularly prevalent in Bengal, where it intersected with other social issues. The practice of Kulin Brahmin polygamy, child marriage, and strict restrictions on widow remarriage created conditions where young widows were seen as economic and social burdens. What began as a "voluntary" practice became increasingly coercive.

While some claim the British exaggerated sati's prevalence for colonial propaganda, historical records paint a nuanced picture. Records from reformer Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who witnessed his 17-year-old sister-in-law's forced sati, demonstrate the practice's horror was real. However, colonial accounts did sometimes inflate numbers and ignore regional variations.

According to Bengal Presidency records, there were 8,134 documented sati cases between 1813 and 1828, averaging 500-600 annually. While these numbers may not represent all of India, they show the practice was far from rare in certain regions. Another point to note here is that Calcutta in Bengal was the capital of British India. If the capital of a country deems burning a widow alive as normal, it would be seen as legitimate and normal in the rest of the country.

The transformation of sati from voluntary to coercive is starkly illustrated by an infamous legal case where Motilal Nehru, a prominent lawyer, defended six people accused of orchestrating a sati. His argument that the pyre ignited spontaneously due to the widow's piety shows how religious mythology was used to obscure criminal acts.

Sati vs Euthanasia vs Witch-burning

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It's crucial to understand how sati differs from other historical practices:

1. The comparison between sati and euthanasia is fundamentally flawed. Euthanasia involves a mentally competent, terminally ill person making an informed decision to end their suffering, often after extensive medical consultation and following strict legal protocols. In contrast, sati victims were typically healthy women, many as young as 13-15 years old, who were coerced through social pressure, physical force, or drugs. There was no medical necessity, no formal consent process, and no option to change their minds once on the pyre. While euthanasia focuses on personal autonomy and dignity in death, sati was rooted in patriarchal beliefs that a widow's life had no value without her husband. Even in cases where women claimed it was "voluntary," the immense societal pressure and indoctrination from childhood made true consent impossible.
2. The fundamental difference between witch burnings and sati lies in their social framing. Witch hunts targeted women accused of malevolent acts - consorting with the devil, cursing crops, or harming children. Society viewed these executions as punishment for evil, making it easier for reformers to eventually challenge them by disproving the accusations. In contrast, sati was glorified as the ultimate expression of wifely devotion and purity. Women who committed sati were venerated as saints, temples were built in their honor, and their families gained social prestige. This positive religious and cultural framing made it particularly challenging for reformers to combat, as they had to fight against what society viewed as a sacred tradition rather than a punitive measure. Even educated Indians, including lawyers like Motilal Nehru, defended the practice using spiritual justifications.

Legal Abolition and Modern Implications

Governor-General William Bentinck's 1829 ban on sati, supported by Indian reformers like Roy, marked a crucial turning point. However, isolated incidents continued well into the 20th century, with the last known case (Roop Kanwar) in 1987 leading to stricter legislation. All the accused in this case were set free. You can read it here.

The evolution of sati from myth to social evil serves as a warning about how religious and cultural practices can be corrupted to justify oppression. Understanding this history is crucial for preventing similar distortions of tradition in modern times.

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So long!

Team Reading Room