India is a country whose culture is characterized by many rites and rituals: wedding, funeral, associated with initiation. Some of them are capable of frightening a modern person, but in ancient times they seemed absolutely common, even necessary. One of these rituals will be discussed below.
The essence of the rite of sati
This ritual will seem to many a terrible relic of the past. What is it? The rite of sati involves the self-immolation of the widow after the death of her husband. It was believed that such an action is performed by a woman of her own free will, but today it is not known whether there was pressure on wives in Indian communities, and how those who refused to perform this ritual were treated. In India, the rite of sati assumed that the woman who performed it went to heaven.
Most often, the ritual was performed the day after the death of the spouse. There were exceptions only if the husband died far from home. Before performing the sati ritual, the woman thoroughly washed herself and put on her wedding clothes and jewelry, which her deceased husband gave her. Sothus, the couple ended their marriage, as it were.
The widow walked to the fire. She was accompanied by her closest relatives, to whom the woman had to repent of the sins committed for her life. If someone else met on her way, he had to join the procession. Before the start of the ceremony, the priest sprinkled his wife and husband with water from the sacred river Ganges and sometimes gave the woman a herbal infusion with a narcotic effect (due to this, the sati ritual was less painful). The widow could either lie on the funeral pyre next to the body, or enter it when the fire had already flared up.
Sometimes she would light the fire herself while inside. It was also important that although formally the ritual of sati in India was voluntary, but the one who decided on it did not have the right to change her mind. If the widow tried to escape, she was driven back into the blazing fire with long poles. But it also happened that the rite was carried out purely symbolically: the woman lay down next to the body of the deceased spouse, the rite and the funeral ceremony were held, but before lighting the fire, the widow left it.
Sati was typical mainly for representatives of the upper castes and for the wives of kings. In some communities, the dead were buried together. In this case, women were buried alive next to their dead husbands. If a representative of the highest authority died, then his funeral was accompanied by mass self-immolations of not only wives, but also concubines.
The history of the appearance of the rite
Some scholars associate the emergence of such a tradition with the legend of the goddess Sati. She fell in lovethe god Shiva, but her father disliked the daughter's chosen one. When Sati and Shiva came to visit one day, the father began to insult his son-in-law. The goddess, unable to bear the humiliation of her husband, threw herself into the fire and burned.
According to other researchers, this legend has nothing to do with custom other than the name of the goddess. Indeed, Shiva did not die, Sati performed self-immolation, because she could not stand the unfair treatment of her beloved husband.
The sati ritual originated around 500 AD and is associated with the plight of the widows of Indian communities. It was believed that such women bring misfortune to everyone they meet on their way, so they were generally not recommended to leave the house. The position of a widow meant a number of restrictions:
- they were forbidden to eat at the same table with their family, their food consisted of liquid stew;
- it was impossible to sleep in bed, only on the floor;
- the widow couldn't look in the mirror;
- she could not communicate with males, including her sons.
Departure from these rules was severely punished, mostly by severe beatings. Of course, living in such conditions was not easy. The woman either immediately preferred to commit self-immolation, or went for it, unable to withstand the moral pressure.
Some researchers of Indian culture see the reasons for the emergence of the rite of sati in the decline of Buddhism and the emergence of castes. This ritual may have been used as a way of subjugation within a caste. Others believe that it was a way of salvation forwomen from harassment. Since the widow remained unprotected, in addition to all the restrictions, she often became the object of violence.
Jauhar
Like sati, this rite involved self-immolation. Only jauhar was the mass suicide that women (and sometimes old men and children) committed if their men died in battle. The key here is precisely the death during the battle.
Anumarama
It is curious that even earlier in the territory of Northern India there was such a rite. It also meant suicide after the death of a spouse, but it was really performed voluntarily, and not only a widow, but also any relative or close person could perform it. No one exerted pressure, the anumarama was carried out solely out of a desire to prove loy alty and devotion to the deceased or as a fulfillment of an oath given to the deceased during his lifetime.
Distribution of the rite of sati in different regions of India
Most cases have been recorded in the state of Rajasthan since the 6th century. Since the 9th century, the ritual appeared in the South. On a smaller scale, sati was common in the upper plains of the Ganges. Moreover, in this region there was an attempt to legally ban the ceremony by Sultan Mohammed Tughlaq.
In the lower plains of the Ganges, the practice of the rite has reached its climax in relatively recent history. In the states of Bengal and Bihar, a large number of acts of self-immolation were documented in the 18th century.
Similar rites in other cultures
A similar tradition is found among the ancient Aryans. For example,it is known that in Russia during the funeral ceremony in a boat or ship a slave was burned along with the deceased master. In Scandinavian mythology, in the epic "Speech of the High One", the supreme northern god, the one-eyed Odin, advises to carry out a similar rite. Similar traditions also existed among the Scythians, for whom it was important for the wife to stay with her husband even after his death.
Sati ban
The European colonists (Portuguese and British) began to declare the ceremony illegal. The first Hindu to speak out against sati was the founder of one of the first social reform movements named Ram Mohan Roy.
He began to fight this rite after his sister committed self-immolation. He held talks with widows, gathered anti-ritual groups, and published articles alleging that the sati tradition was contrary to the scriptures.
In 1829, the Bengali authorities formally forbade the ritual. Some sati supporters protested the ban, and the case went to the London consulate. There, they could consider it only in 1832 and issued a verdict prohibiting the ritual. A little later, the British introduced amendments: if a woman reached the age of majority, was not subjected to pressure and wanted to commit sati herself, she was allowed to do so.
Our days
Legislatively, the rite of sati is prohibited in modern India. But such rituals still exist mainly in rural areas. Most of them are recorded in Rajasthan - the state where this rite was most common. Since 1947There are about 40 cases of ritual self-immolation of widows. So, in 1987, a young widow named Roop Kanwar (pictured) committed sati.
After this incident, the legislation against this ritual became tougher both in Rajasthan and throughout India. However, the ritual of sati continued. In 2006, two cases happened at once: in the state of Uttar Pradesh, the widow Vidyawati jumped into a funeral pyre, the same was done by a resident of the Sagar region named Yanakari. It is unknown if this was a voluntary ritual or if the women were pressured.
At the moment, the government of India is trying to stop the practice of sati as much as possible. Even spectators and witnesses of the ritual are punished by law. One way to combat self-immolation is to destroy the meaning of holiness. Pilgrimages to the funeral pyres, the establishment of gravestones - all this is considered a celebration of the ritual, and is strictly prohibited.
Attitude towards sati in different cultures
The rite of self-immolation is certainly creepy and frightening. The description seems wild, and the few photos of the sati ritual in India that can be found on the Internet are shocking. Accordingly, in many cultures, it causes criticism and condemnation.
Muslims, who captured the continent, took this rite as an inhuman phenomenon, and fought it in every possible way. The Europeans who came later had a similar position. Spreading Christianity, they fought with all their might against such local traditions. Portuguese,the Dutch, the French, the British - everyone who had colonies in India sooner or later introduced a ban on sati.
Attitude towards ritual in Hinduism
There were both defenders and critics of this ritual. For example, the Brahmins did not perceive sati as suicide, but considered it a sacred rite that freed a married couple from sins committed during their lifetime and reunited them in another world. Vishnu, Parasara, Daksha, Harita also order widows to commit sati. But in Manu it is indicated that in the event of the death of her husband, the wife must observe life-long asceticism, but not burn herself.
Sanskrit texts like the Puranas praise women who have committed sati. It is said that if the ritual is performed, they are reunited with their husbands.
There are still disputes about what is the attitude to sati in the writings of the Rig Veda. A hymn dedicated to funeral rites is in doubt: according to one translation, a woman should go to the house after the death of her husband, and according to another, to the fire. This is due to the replacement of the consonant sound in the word "house", as a result of which the word changes to "fire".
In such religions as Buddhism and Jainism, the rite of sati is not mentioned at all. The ritual was criticized and condemned within the framework of such religious movements as Bhakti and Veerashaivism. Here, sati was already perceived not as a sacred rite of self-sacrifice, but as a suicide, by committing which, a woman went to hell.
