Ernie & Lam : It is preferable to refer to the self immolation of widows as "suttee" rather than "sati." Sati was the Goddess wife of Lord Shiva. True, some people use the term sati because the Goddess is reputed to have immolated herself for reasons of grief, but the word hardly captures her essence and it is possible that the practice as attributed to Sati is a later invention . Suttee was known in India as early as the Gupta era, say 400 AD, with a very few scattered references to something similar before that, but the point to stress is its rarity, Not until ca 1000 AD or a few hundred years later did it become more or less commonplace. You might want to ask why this custom became popular rather than assuming it somehow was intrinsic to Hinduism. Rightly so, it has been pointed out that Hindu scriptures don't sanction the practice. As best as I can tell, an extremely rare practice reserved for extraordinary cases became a "model" for the behavior of widows as a direct consequence of Muslim invasions from ca 1000 AD onward. Up until the British-- although with some continuation into the 20th century, indeed, although not like the past, into our own time. >From that point onward , from ca 1000 AD , there was mass scale persecution of Hindus by forces of Islam, most often in times of war, but since wars were frequent, often enough. This is the period during which from 70 to 80 million mostly Hindus ( some % consisted of Buddhists and Jains ) were killed by the Muslim invaders and a similar number enslaved. The typical pattern was a fierce fight by the Hindus. Now and then they prevailed and Muslim forces needed to retreat. But more often a huge Muslim army would arrive, unprovoked, and attack a city, such as the capital of a kingdom of a local raja. Hindus might send their own forces to the field of battle or decide to defend the city from its walls. In either case the Hindus knew the "deal." Convert to Islam of be killed. The vast majority regarded this as immoral and unacceptable and fought for their faith and families. When they lost they paid the price, in case after case all Hindu male combatants were slaughtered. Tens of thousands in numerous documented cases. The Hindu widows knew exactly what to expect. If they were young and attractive their fate would be sex slavery. Regardless of attractiveness, their children would be sold in slave markets in Samarkand or Baghdad or Kabul. There was an option, follow the example ( or myth ) of Sati and immolate themselves and deny to the Muslims their human spoils of war. Given centuries of unprovoked invasions it isn't hard to understand why the custom , as extreme as it was, became a known alternative to surrender to the Muslims. Those who did surrender and convert were the ancestors of majority populations of places like Pakistan and Bangla Desh. Those Muslims have my contempt, and Islam has my contempt and disgust. Billy In a message dated 12/4/2009 5:49:34 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes:
A fascinating story of the intersection between Christianity and Hinduism... -- Ernie P. _http://in.christiantoday.com/articles/wiliam-carey-played-significant-role- in-abolishing-sati-system/4906.htm_ (http://in.christiantoday.com/articles/wiliam-carey-played-significant-role-in-abolishing-sati-system/4906.htm) "Carey was a great social reformer. When he witnessed Sati, the worst evil which prevailed at that time, he was horrified and dismayed," says Dr. Lalchungnunga, the principal of Serampore College, the oldest ecumenical organisation in India, founded by missionaries Joshua Marshman, William Carey and William Ward in 1827. "The ‘Serampore Trio’ joined other social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, and each on their own capacities vied to abolish this inhuman practice," he told Christian Today. It was not an easy road. Carey came through a lot of pressure and agitation by traditional Hindus who validated the act by citing ancient Hindu scriptures. "But, Carey was not to give up. He studied the Vedas and sacred texts for months to be fully conversant to debate the learned pundits," says Lalchungnunga. "Carey finally with the same Vedas proved that their scriptures never sanctioned it. He persistently battled against it till it was banned in 1829," he added. During his campaign against Sati, Carey found that nearly 300 widows were burnt alive around Calcutta and 10,000 all over India within a short span of time. Sadly, the Hindu practise of polygamy compounded the problem even more. On one occasion Carey documented 33 wives of one man burned alive at his funeral. This practise made children orphaned without both father and mother. Carey fought against all these, publishing articles and books, resolutely opposing this gory practise. See also: _http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Mohan_Roy#Religious_reforms_of_Rammohan_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Mohan_Roy#Religious_reforms_of_Rammohan) = _______________________________________________ Centroids mailing list: [email protected] http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com Archives at http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/
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