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Sati, the practice of self-immolation by widows in some Hindu communities, has long been a source of shock and titillation for outside observers. As such, sati has received a lot of attention throughout the centuries, and cannot be truly viewed as a well-kept secret. Secrets persist, though, regarding the actual rate of sati practice throughout history and the effect of the tradition of sati on the lives of women in some Indian communities today.

The History and Practice of Sati

The practice of sati takes its name from the goddess Sati, who immolated herself in protest of her father Daksha's humiliation of her husband Shiva. This mythical case is not truly analogous to widow immolation; Shiva was not dead when Sati committed suicide. Still, sati carries an association with the self-sacrifice and loyalty of a virtuous woman to her husband, likewise reflected in the voluntary self-immolation of widows.

In the most common form of sati, a widow places herself on her deceased husband's funeral pyre to be burned along with his body. In some Hindu communities in which burial rather than cremation is the norm, a widow might be buried alive with her husband. The Garuda Purana scripture provides justification for this practice, proclaiming "A wife who dies in the company of her husband shall remain in heaven as many years as there are hairs on his person (Garuda Purana 1.107.29)."

The practice of sati is not known to have occurred before the fifth century, and the form known today did not become common until the sixth century in India. At this time, Buddhism declined on the subcontinent and the caste system became the basic system for social order, creating strict hierarchies in which married women had little role apart from their husbands. From the tenth to the nineteenth century, sati practice spread throughout India.

Women who immolate themselves are often memorialized in shrines held in local temples. These shrines often include handprints of the women who have died in sati, providing a constant reminder to other women that this act is virtuous.

Sati has never been universal throughout India, and the actual number of widows who have died in this manner is not known. The practice is limited primarily to members of the upper castes. It is also much more common for childless widows to commit sati than for those with children to support. Data collected by British colonials in the early nineteenth century indicate that around 500-550 cases of sati were reported each year.

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