Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

LIFESTYLES

a minister of the Chalukya Sathyashraya of the Deccan (10th century) burnt herself with her husband. The existence of a large number of sati memorial tablets proves that the practice was in vogue in central India and the Deccan during the medieval period but evidently was not universal. Many well-known ladies of this period such as Prabhavatidevi of the Vataka dynasty of the Deccan and Mayanalladevi, mother of Jayasimha Siddharaja of Gujarat, did not observe this rite and at the same time were esteemed for their devotion to their husbands. Sati seems to have been confined to the upper classes mainly of central and later of eastern India. Social and family pressure may have made it virtually obligatory on some high-caste widows, especially those of the warrior classes like the Rajputs. Muhammed-bin-Tughlak was the first medieval ruler who placed restrictions on the observance of sati by passing a law that a licence had to be obtained before a widow could immolate herself within his dominions. The law was meant to prevent any compulsion or force being used against an unwilling widow. The officers of the sultan were always present during a sati and ensured that the widow was not being coerced to commit suicide against her will. Akbar did not forbid sati altogether but issued orders to the Kotwals that they should not allow a woman to be burnt against her will. He is said to have sometimes personally intervened to save unwilling widows from the flames. He rescued the widow of Jai Mai and imprisoned her son who had compelled her to commit sati. The European travellers Della Valle, Pelsaert and Travernier testify that the permission could be refused if she had young children to rear. Aurangzeb was the only emperor who issued definite orders (1664) forbidding the practice but despite this it continued to be followed. The Abbe Dubois, a French missionary, who was in India for 30 years from 1792 to 1823, observes in his book, Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies :“In 1817 there were 706 suttees in the Bengal Presidency. It is true that this insane practice is much more in vogue on the banks of the Ganges than anywhere else. In the southern part of the peninsula of India suttees are seldom seen. I am convinced that in the Madras Presidency, which numbers at least thirty million inhabitants, not thirty widows allow themselves to be thus burnt during a year.” sati ceremonies. One was in 1794 in a village in Tanjore District, following the death of a man of some importance belonging to the Vaishya caste. His wife, aged about 30, announced her intention of accompanying her deceased husband to the funeral pyre. The final moments of the ceremony are described: “She was then made to leave the palanquin, and as she was scarcely able to walk, her people helped her to drag herself to a pond near the pyre. She plunged into the water with all her clothes and ornaments on, and was immediately afterwards led to the pyre on which the body of her husband was already laid. The pyre was surrounded by Brahmins, each with a lighted torch in one hand and a bowl of ghee in the other. Her relatives and friends, several of whom were armed with muskets, swords and other weapons, stood closely round in a double line, and seemed to await impatiently the end of the shocking tragedy. This armed The Abbe personally witnessed two

5. Ghandarva marriage by the consent of the two parties This-form of marriage was often clandestine without the knowledge of the parents of the bride and groom. In addition there were three other types of marriage: Asura, marriage by purchase, Rakshasha, marriage by capture and Paishaca the seduction of a girl while asleep which could not be considered a marriage at all. The dowry system had become entrenched to such an extent that in medieval times enormous dowries were given and have been mentioned in the works of the period such as Sursagar, Ramcharitmanas and Padmavati, Tukaram, the great Mahar- ashtrian saint, could give his daughter in marriage only after a dowry had been raised through contributions from the villagers. Akbar was against high dowries. Abul Fazl in his Ain-i-Akbari records that two officials called tui-begs, or masters of marriage, appointed by the Emperor also looked into the economic and financial circumstances of the bride and bridegroom. The custom of bride-price was so prevalent in South India that Deva Raya II of Vijayanagar (1422-29 A.D.) enacted a decree that all marriages among Brahmanas were to be concluded by Kanya-dana and the father had to give his daughter to the bridegroom without payment of money. Money transactions on the occasion of a marriage were declared a legal offence. The remarriage of widows is not advocated by the Smriti writers and the Puranas. Manu forbids remarriage except in the case of widows who are virgins. AI Biruni states that in India there is no custom of remarrying the widow. The custom of riiyoga by which a childless widow could conceive a son through her brother-in-law, was in vogue in early times but was later discouraged. Under the rules of the Smritis, a widow had to lead an austere life. She took only one meal a day. She slept on the floor and was not allowed to use a cot. She said prayers every day in memory of her husband. She could not return to her father as she was still a member of her husband’s family where she was always watched to see that she did not break her vows and continued her observances. Shunned as inauspicious by everyone who tried to avoid crossing her path she led an extremely miserable existence. By the 1lth century the practice of shaving the heads of widows had also begun. In these circumstance, many widows often preferred to immolate themselves on their husband’s pyre. The custom was known as sati. The word means “virtuous woman”. A widow who burnt herself on her husband’s pyre was considered loyal and loving. It was only later that British officials and missionaries began applying the word to the act of self-immolation. During Vedic times sati was merely symbolic. This is known from one of the funeral hymns of the Rig Veda : the widow lay down beside the dead man and his bow was placed in his hand; the bow was then removed and the wife was asked to rise. The wife of Goparaju, the general of the Gupta king, Bhanugupta, is known to have ascended the funeral pyre of her husband in 510 A.D. This is recorded in a memorial found at Liran, near Sagar in Madhya Pradesh. The wife of Nagadeva, SATI