This tradition describes a so-called tragic love that is romanticized and presented before us. According to the story, a woman threw herself into the fire to prove her “innocence”. This brutal tradition, based on the logic that even fire cannot harm an innocent and virtuous woman, is as good as the brutal traditions of the Middle Ages. If the woman does not die – according to them – her innocence is proven.
According to this mentality; Women cannot survive without their husbands. That’s why they have to die with their dead spouses, they can’t stay behind and do anything anyway. Most of the time, after women are thrown into the fire with their collars on, it is written in the records that this situation is a suicide.
The word Sati is derived from the Sanskrit word “sat” and means “reality” or “what is real”.
The word sati, apart from its dictionary meaning, has been used in the sense that women sacrifice themselves after the death of their husbands. The practice of Sati has existed in different forms throughout history in different regions and cultures of India.
Historically speaking, the tradition of sati first appeared as part of Hindu mythology. According to legends, Sati, the wife of God Shiva, sacrificed herself because she was not invited to a dinner her father was cooking. This story is considered the beginning of the practice of sati and has survived to this day as a mythological story.
The tradition began to appear in India from the 4th century. Some women were forced to become sati due to social pressures, religious beliefs or economic reasons.
With the imposition of patriarchal norms, women were forced to be ‘chaste’. As a result, such a tradition was resorted to. A woman who becomes a “widow” after her husband’s death is fine even if she does not live (!).
These social reasons also put women under pressure. If the woman does not agree to be burned alive after her dead husband, this time she is forcibly thrown into the fire. In an example given related to this situation, it is told that the woman refused to be cremated and hid somewhere, and the 7 men who found her forcibly dragged her near her husband’s body and burned him forcibly.
This blood-curdling practice is usually recorded as taking place with the woman’s “consent”.
It is a situation in some parts of India where women are never enough for their husbands and have to pay the price for it. Of course, this practice, which has been going on for centuries, was not abolished just yet. According to dozens of women who live the Sati tradition, it is a practice that still continues mentally.
With the British Empire’s takeover of India, it seems that a serious struggle against the practice began. The British administration argued that this practice was against human rights and forced women to die. Under Lord William Bentinck, Sati was legally prohibited. However, despite the ban, this practice continued in some regions and small communities.
Even though it is banned today, there are still rare cases where women are forced to die under social pressure.
Work on women’s rights and social equality continues in India. The Sati tradition attracts great reaction around the world. The last case we have regarding this incident is that on October 13, 2008, a 70-year-old woman residing in Raipur district of Chattisgarh jumped into the fire while her body was burning at her husband’s funeral pyre and was turned into ashes within minutes. It is still unknown whether this woman jumped into the fire voluntarily or was forced. The incident seems to be unobtrusive as it continues in rural areas of India.
There’s nothing more funny than women jumping into a fire and waiting to “die” to prove their innocence, virtue, and chastity. This situation is part of the unchanging mentality towards women for centuries. Perhaps many people are unaware of the practice that still continues illegally.
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