Random Sad Facts About the Hindu Custom Sati, in Which Women Practice Self-Immolation (10 items)

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  (#6) It Was Practiced Before Recorded History

  Our best records date the concept of sati at least as far back as the Vedic Age (1500 B.C.E.). Even then, sati is spoken of largely in the past tense. Estimates say it had been practiced for at least 500 years prior — about 2000 B.C.E. That would make the practice of sati at least as old as the earliest recorded history in Asia, and probably at least as old as Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. Nobody knows exactly how old the practice of sati is, because even our oldest texts mention it in the past tense.  
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  (#5) Rich People Weren't Supposed to Do It

  Vijñāneśvara, an early Dharmaśāstric scholar writing about 1100 B.C.E., references Vedic injunctions against sati in terms of social class. He writes that a Brahmin woman (one of the highest social caste) shouldn't follow her husband into death. This might have something to do with the fact that Brahmins were leaders of the community, major landholders, and the death of two such people at the same time would throw things into disarray. It might also be a safeguard against children murdering their fathers for the inheritance. Then again, it may just be a case of the upper class saying to the lower class, "Yeah... that's not for us."
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  (#10) You Were Probably Alive When India Made Sati Illegal

  ...As long as you were born before 1989. In 1988, the Indian Parliament finally adopted the Sati (Prevention) Act, which once and for all put out the embers of burning widows on the subcontinent. This act not only prohibited sati itself, but severely criminalized any type of aiding, abetting or glorifying of the act. It may seem strange that India took so long to finally outlaw sati, especially considering the fact that it had already been outlawed 120 years before. But that was under British colonial rule, and India only gained its independence in 1947. True, 41 years is a good bit of time to wait to outlaw the burning of wives. But then again, it took America more than 200 years to outlaw the beating of wives and burning of witches. Always good to keep things in perspective.  
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  (#3) Pregnant Women Weren't Allowed to Do It

  There have always been rules surrounding sati and who could commit it. Women with young children to care for, or who were pregnant or menstruating, couldn't commit ritual suicide. This was seen as sacrificing the life of the child along with her own. Though again, there are some practical considerations here — not least of which being that a woman capable of bearing children may wish to re-marry at some point.  
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  (#7) Sati May Have Influenced the Vikings and Inspired Catholic Witch Burnings

  This connection has been made by many, but remains unproven in terms of documentation. Around the time that witch burnings became a thing in Medieval Europe, Christian culture was already well-aware of the practices of heathen Vikings and Hindus. The practice of burning witches descends directly from Viking funerary rituals, in which a king's widow or female thrall would be burned alive with her lord. No one knows precisely where this custom came from, but it is known that Vikings traded heavily throughout Central Asia with Persians and Hindus. It is fairly likely that the Vikings adopted the custom of sati from their trading partners, as it fit nicely with their own social structure and mythology. When the Church began to execute "brides of the Devil," it seemed only natural they should burn them as those brides of pagan kings burned.  
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  (#9) It's Been Controversial for a Very Long Time

  It's probably fair to say that the vast majority of Hindus now are less than supportive of sati. But Hindus have never completely supported it. First, because suicide is prohibited by the Hindu religion, instantly gaining one bad karma and sentencing one to become a unappealing in the next life. It was also previously banned by the Vedic tradition Hindus draw from, but saw a sort of revival around the 10th Century. The 12th Century Virashaiva movement sought to outlaw it completely. When the British finally did outlaw sati in India in 1861, it was largely by request of the locals. It was long in coming, as well. According to one census taken in 1829, approximately 600 acts of sati were still performed every year.   

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