In January, 1987, Roop Kanwar, 18 years of age, married 24 year old Maal Singh Shekhanat in the Sikar District in India.
Eight months later Maal Singh died of gastroenteritis in a hospital in Sikar around September 3, 1987.
On September 4, 1987 the villagers set fire to Maal’s funeral pyre and Roop, dressed in traditional bridal ceremonial attire, ascended the pyre and joined her husband in self immolation.
She was subsequently hailed as “Sati Mata” (Pure Mother) and a shrine developed at the site attracting devotees and offerings.
Later investigations by journalists and activists suggested Roop may not have gone willingly to her death and 45 people were subsequently charged but released for insufficient evidence.
This is the last recorded case of Sati in India, an ancient practice in some part of India, in which a widow immolated herself on her husbands funeral pyre.
while I will resist the temptation to rail against the patriarchy, your Six is all any reasonable person would need to condemn anyone complicit in the young woman’s death.*
*wait, taking a sufficiently broad view, this would entail an indictment of virtually all cultures since, well, since there were three people.
rant-provoking Six, yo. lol
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These events usually start out as religious practices, and are hard to eradicate.
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My take is, thank God we are progressing towards a saner culture. Or are we?
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I wonder how such a custom got started.
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Good question, and one I pondered myself.
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Is it c worse than joining him in his pyramid, along with slaves and favorite pets. I can’t judge…
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Both equally damning.
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Thank god this practice is stopping – I can’t contemplate this – it wasn’t that long ago and she was so young and even more horrendous if she did not do it of her own volition 💔
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Yes, it was initially banned under Englands colonial rule in the 19th century. Some traditions die hard.
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It is actually quite scary to think that she may not have done this willingly at all… Interesting six!
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It is actually hard to believe that an 18;year old would willingly do this……..and I’ve been trying to leave comments on your site but it doesn’t accept my url, even though it’s the correct one. I’m not sure what to do.
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hmm. That’s weird. I tested with your URL and it worked for me…
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https://imnobodywhoareyou.ca/ – I used this for testing.
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I wonder what type of an error so you get? Is it 502 or something else?
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503*
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Thanks, Reelika. I didn’t realize you had to input http:// before the domain name in order to accept. Appreciate you letting me know.
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oh. Okay… I never even thought about it that it does…
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It just beggars belief.
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I know. You wonder how these rituals start.
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My heart aches for our world, that such practices could even develop much less endure so long.
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Hopefully we are learning and heading to a better future.
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I can not imagine such a practice, let alone in “modern times”.
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I guess not all regions of the world have caught up to “modern times”.
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