Sati (practice)

Sati (practice)

Satī (Devanagari: सती, the feminine of sat "true"; also called suttee) was a social funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman would immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre. The practice had been banned several times, with the current ban dating to 1829 by the British.

The term is derived from the original name of the goddess Sati, also known as Dakshayani, who self-immolated because she was unable to bear her father Daksha's humiliation of her (living) husband Shiva. The term may also be used to refer to the widow. The term sati is now sometimes interpreted as "chaste woman". "Sati" appears in both Hindi and Sanskrit texts, where it is synonymous with "good wife"; the term "suttee" was commonly used by Anglo-Indian English writers.