Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

LIFESTYLES

proper on such occasion; and they went through the whole of them without hesitation and without the least sign of fear. When, however, it came to walking round the pile, it was observed that their features underwent a sudden change. Their strength seemed well-high to forsake them in spite of their obvious effort to suppress their natural feelings. During this interval the body of the king had been placed on the top of the pyramid of sandalwood. The two queens, still wearing their rich attire and ornaments, were next compelled to ascend the pile. Lying down beside the body of the deceased prince, one on the right and other on the left, they joined hands across the corpse. The officiating Brahmins then recited in a loud tone several mantras, sprinkled the pile with their tirtam or holy water, and emptied the jars of ghee over the wood, setting fire to it at the same moment. This was done on one side by the nearest relative of the king, on another by his guru, on others by leading Brahmins. The flames quickly spread and the props being removed, the whole structure collapsed, and in its fall must have crushed to death the two unfortunate victims. Thereupon all the spectators shouted aloud for joy. The unhappy women’s relatives standing around the pile then called to them several times by name, and it is said that, issuing from amidst the flames, the word Yen? (what?) was heard distinctly pronounced. A ridiculous illusion, no doubt of minds blinded by fanaticism; for it could never be believed that the unfortunate victims were at that moment in a condition to hear and to speak.”

force, they told me, was intended not only to intimidate the unhappy victim in case the terror of her approaching death might induce her to run away, but also to overawe any person who might be moved by a natural feeling of compassion and sympathy, and so tempted to prevent the accomplishment of the homicidal sacrifice. “At length, the purohit Brahmin gave the fatal signal. The poor widow was instantly divested of all her jewels and dragged, more dead than alive, to the pyre. There she was obliged, according to custom, to walk three times round the pile, two of her nearest relatives supporting her by the arms. She accomplished the first round with totterring steps; during the second her strength wholly forsook her, and she fainted away in the arms of her conductor, who were obliged to complete the ceremony by dragging her through the third round. Then, at last, senseless and unconscious, she was cast upon the corpse of her husband. At that moment the air resounded with noisy acclamations. The Brahmins, emptying the contents of their vessels on the dry wood, applied their torches, and in the twinkling of an eye the whole pile was ablaze. Three times was the unfortunate woman called by her name. But, alas! she made no answer.” The next sati concerns the wives of the last king of Tanjore who died in 1801. “The Brahmins decided that two of his four wives should be burnt with the body of their husband and selected the couple that should have the preference. On reaching the spot where their untimely fate awaited them, the victims were required to perform the ablutions and other ceremonies

The practice was declared illegal and punishable by courts in 1829 by the Governor-General, Lord William Bentinck.

Dhritarashtra's Burning Body - Gandhari (entering the fire). On the husband's body being burnt by fire with the hut made of leaves (in which he is living), the virtuous consort (of Dhritarashtra) from outside, shall follow that husband by entering into the fire.