It is now rare but does occur in poor, rural areas where villagers revere the practice as the ultimate demonstration of female honor, devotion and piety. It originated with Hindu women who chose to kill themselves rather than be taken prisoner after their husbands fell on the field of battle. The practice of sati, where a Hindu wife immolates herself on her husband's pyre, has been banned in India since 1829 and was considered by British officials as a medieval throwback. 'No one forced her or incited her to commit sati,' the Hindustan Times newspaper quoted him as saying. Before killing herself, she made a couple of rounds of the pyre holding a coconut and a copy of a Hindu holy book.īharat Ram, the eldest son, had earlier told reporters his mother's decision was her own. She had come for the funeral of her husband dressed in a bridal sari. Police said that Lalmati's actions had been pre-planned. The law is punitive anyone who is found guilty of standing aside as a woman throws herself onto a funeral pyre can be sentenced to life in prison. The Hindu funeral pyre has been the focus of lurid orientalism for hundreds of years. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images Weeks ago, the. Under the law, authorities can punish anyone who promises financial or spiritual benefits to a woman's family for committing sati. Funeral pyres of people who have died from Covid-19 seen burning during a mass cremation at a crematorium in New Delhi, India, on May 3. The seven were arrested under the Prevention of Sati Act and face possible capital punishment or life in prison, Kumar said. 'These relatives failed to inform the police, or even other villagers, of her intention, and are thus guilty of abetment.' 'Their mother had clearly announced her intention of jumping into her husband's funeral pyre, when her husband was still alive but very ill,' said Amit Kumar, the local superintendent of police.

Funeral pyre india