Sati was originally brought about because there were no such things as a
"wealthy widows" in ancient India. Once the man died (usually of old age), the
widow was invariable expected to sit at the feet of her dead husband and burnt
alive.
She was so dosed up with alcohol & other substances that she was mostly
unconscious but the praise she was given also added to the haze & she welcomed
her end, painfully & in some cases she was poisoned in such a way as to show
she died with her husband through choice.
Yes it was, and still is a barbaric way to end a life of a human being, just
so that her sons will inherit the wealth and not her, she was condemned to this
death the moment she married, usually marrying a man much older, so this
guaranteed her the gruesome end to her life.
It is against to law to "permit a woman to commit Sati"....... thank heavens
for education but of course in many outlying villages in India where sometimes
this is carried out, hundreds if not thousands of people will gather to see
this awful & gruesome spectacle. The Sati woman is then praised as a Goddess &
she has her name forever on the lips of those who saw her rise to the
heavens..................
Yes, what rubbish but it was not that long ago that I remember reading of a
young widow who VOLUNTEERED to commit Sati because she loved her husband so
much, he died in an accident so she was still in the throes of having fallen in
love with him, that she did indeed sit at his feet and threw herself on top of
the funeral pyre.
There may have been many other reasons, but I suspect she was coerced into it
by relatives, who had much to lose if she remained alive after her husband's
death.
Its all about money, just because Sati was expected of widows, especially if
they were from well-off families, also the poor but its more likely when there
was some wealth in the family, such as a house, its furnishings, money and sons
to inherit it all, the woman commited hersefl to this suicidal pact out of
greed of others, they called it tradition, what bull !!
John Monteiro
02.12.07.....10.22hrs (UK)
