Sati, or suttee, was a funeral practice in some Asian communities where a recently widowed woman would commit suicide by immolating herself on her husband's funeral pyre. The practice can be traced back to the 4th century CE but evidence of royal wives participating only appears between the 5th-9th centuries CE. Sati was justified as a way to prevent widows from poisoning their husbands and taking new lovers, and it sometimes occurred in Sikh and non-Hindu communities in South Asia against the teachings of religious leaders. Sati remains illegal in India but isolated and unenforced cases were still reported into the 21st century. The 1987 Sati Prevention Act defines and outlaws the practice.

1. CONFESSION, CREED,
DENOMINATION, FAITH,
PERSUASION, SECT
Q;WH
AT
IS
IT?

3. SUTTEEISM
* THE ACT OF
SELF-
IMMOLATION

4. SATI (PRACTICE)
REFERS TO A FUNERAL RITUAL WITHIN
SOME ASIAN COMMUNITIES IN WHICH
A RECENTLY WIDOWED WOMAN
COMMITS SUICIDE BY FIRE, TYPICALLY
ON THE HUSBAND'S FUNERAL PYRE.

5. THE TERM IS DERIVED FROM THE
NAME OF THE GODDESS SATI, WHO
SELF-IMMOLATED BECAUSE SHE
WAS UNABLE TO BEAR HER FATHER
DAKSHA'S HUMILIATION TO HER
HUSBAND SHIVA.

6. • PRACTICE CAN BE
DATED BACK TO THE
4TH CENTURY
• WHILE EVIDENCE OF
PRACTICE BY WIVES
OF DEAD KINGS
ONLY APPEARS
BEGINNING
BETWEEN THE 5TH
AND 9TH
CENTURIES CE.

7. IN HISTORY
• 1ST-CENTURY BCE HISTORIAN DIODORUS~
ACCORDING TO DIODORUS THE PRACTICE OF SATI
STARTED BECAUSE INDIANS MARRIED FOR LOVE,
UNLIKE THE GREEKS WHO FAVOURED MARRIAGES
ARRANGED BY THE PARENTS. WHEN INEVITABLY
MANY OF THESE LOVE MARRIAGES TURNED SOUR,
THE WOMAN WOULD OFTEN POISON THE HUSBAND
AND FIND A NEW LOVER.

8. TO END THESE MURDERS, A LAW
WAS THEREFORE INSTITUTED
THAT THE WIDOW SHOULD EITHER
JOIN HER HUSBAND IN DEATH OR
LIVE IN PERPETUAL WIDOWHOOD!

9. • PRACTICE OF
SATI IN HINDU-
INFLUENCED
CULTURES
OUTSIDE INDIAN
SUBCONTINENT
BALINESE RITE OF
SELF-SACRIFICE OR
SUTTEE, IN
HOUTMAN'S
1597(OFTEN
INFORMALLY
CALLED THE
ABROLHOS
ISLANDS)

10. SATI PRACTICE WITHIN NON-HINDU
COMMUNITIES
• DESPITE THE CONDEMNATION OF THE PRACTICE BY 3RD GURU GURU AMAR DAS
(1479-1554) AND THE OTHER RELIGIOUS LEADERS WITHIN SIKHISM, POPULARITY
OF THE CUSTOM SPREAD WITHIN SIKH ARISTOCRACY. THUS, FOR EXAMPLE, WHEN
THE FOUNDER OF THE SIKH EMPIRE RANJIT SINGH DIED IN 1839, 4 OF HIS
PROPER WIVES AND 7 OF HIS CONCUBINES COMMITTED THEMSELVES TO SATI.
TWO WIVES COMMITTED SATI WHEN SIKH KING KHARAK SINGH DIED, AND FIVE
WOMEN JOINED THE FUNERAL PYRE OF MAHARAJA BASANT SINGH.[47][48]
WHEN RAJA SUCHET SINGH[49] DIED IN 1844, 310 WOMEN COMMITTED SATI.

11. CURRENT SITUATION
• SATI HAS OCCURRED IN SOME
RURAL AREAS OF INDIA,
REPORTS EXTENDING INTO
THE 21ST CENTURY. SOME 30
CASES OF SATI FROM 1943 TO
1987 IN THE
RAJPUT/SHEKAVATI REGION
ARE DOCUMENTED ACCORDING
TO A REFERRED STATISTICS,
THE OFFICIAL NUMBER BEING
28!

12. YEAR 1987~
• A WELL-DOCUMENTED CASE
FROM WAS THAT OF 18-YEAR-
OLD ROOP KANWAR. IN
RESPONSE TO THIS INCIDENT,
ADDITIONAL RECENT
LEGISLATION AGAINST THE
PRACTICE WAS PASSED, FIRST
WITHIN THE STATE OF
RAJASTHAN, THEN
GENERALLY, THE CENTRAL
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.

13. • IN 2002, A 65-YEAR-OLD
WOMAN BY THE NAME OF
KUTTU DIED AFTER SITTING
ON HER HUSBAND'S
FUNERAL PYRE IN THE
INDIAN PANNA DISTRICT
• ON 18 MAY 2006,
VIDYAWATI, A 35-YEAR-OLD
WOMAN ALLEGEDLY
COMMITTED SATI BY
JUMPING INTO THE BLAZING
FUNERAL PYRE OF HER
HUSBAND IN RARI-BUJURG
VILLAGE, FATEHPUR
DISTRICT IN THE STATE OF
UTTAR PRADESH
Hinduism

14. • ON 11 OCTOBER
2008 A 75-YEAR-
OLD WOMAN,
LALMATI VERMA,
COMMITTED SATI BY
JUMPING INTO HER
80-YEAR-OLD
HUSBAND'S
FUNERAL PYRE AT
CHECHER IN THE
KASDOL BLOCK OF
CHHATTISGARH'S
RAIPUR DISTRICT
Hindu History

15. LEGISLATIVE STATUS OF SATI IN
PRESENT DAY INDIA
THE COMMISSION OF SATI
(PREVENTION) ACT, 1987
PART I, SECTION 2(C)
DEFINES SATI AS:

16. THE BURNING OR BURYING ALIVE OF –
• ANY WIDOW ALONG WITH
THE BODY OF HER
DECEASED HUSBAND OR
ANY OTHER RELATIVE OR
WITH ANY ARTICLE, OBJECT
OR THING ASSOCIATED
WITH THE HUSBAND OR
SUCH RELATIVE
• ANY WOMAN ALONG WITH
THE BODY OF ANY OF HER
RELATIVES, IRRESPECTIVE
OF WHETHER SUCH
BURNING OR BURYING IS
CLAIMED TO BE
VOLUNTARY ON THE PART
OF THE WIDOW OR THE
WOMEN OR OTHERWISE

17. • THE PREVENTION OF SATI ACT
MAKES IT ILLEGAL TO SUPPORT,
GLORIFY OR ATTEMPT TO COMMIT
SATI. SUPPORT OF SATI, INCLUDING
COERCING OR FORCING SOMEONE
TO COMMIT SATI, CAN BE PUNISHED
BY DEATH SENTENCE OR LIFE
IMPRISONMENT, WHILE GLORIFYING
SATI IS PUNISHABLE WITH ONE TO
SEVEN YEARS IN PRISON.
• ENFORCEMENT OF THESE
MEASURES IS NOT ALWAYS
CONSISTENT. THE NATIONAL
COUNCIL FOR WOMEN (NCW) HAS
SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS TO THE
LAW TO REMOVE SOME OF THESE
FLAWS SPECIAL THANKS TO MISS
GURPREET KAUR!

18. SHUBHAM SOOD