What is the practice of a woman throwing herself into a fire after the death of her husband? Hindu practice?

Question

I remember reading about this in world history a few years ago, and i'm itching to remember the name.

Answer 1

Self-immolation, or "widow-burning," is called "Sati."
http://www.balagokulam.org/teach/other/sati.php

Answer 2

The mass is a celebration of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ (the gospels), and the focal point is the Lord's Supper. The celebration of the Lords Supper is from the beginning of the Church, and is the primary reason they got together. The proper way of celebrating the Lords Supper can be found in 1 Corinthians 11. As for the cross being the symbol of Christ, it is a symbol used from the early Church, and prior to that the Jews - Ezekiel 9:4 (of the mark of the letter Tau). Early Christians often traced the cross on their foreheads and lips. It is this that John is speaking of in Apocalypse 7:3, 9:4 and 14:1. It is not a symbol of death. It is a symbol of Christs triumph over death.

Answer 3

Srimad Bhagavatam 1.13.59 mentions about this sati practice by Gandhari when her husband Drhitarastra died.

"While outside observing her husband, who will burn in the fire of mystic power along with his thatched cottage, his chaste wife will enter the fire with rapt attention".

Purport by Prabhupada
Gandhari was an ideal chaste lady, a life companion of her husband, and therefore when she saw her husband burning in the fire of mystic yoga along with his cottage of leaves, she despaired. She left home after losing her one hundred sons, and in the forest she saw that her most beloved husband was also burning. Now she actually felt alone, and therefore she entered the fire of her husband and followed her husband to death. This entering of a chaste lady into the fire of her dead husband is called the sati rite, and the action is considered to be most perfect for a woman. In a later age, this sati rite became an obnoxious criminal affair because the ceremony was forced upon even an unwilling woman. In this fallen age it is not possible for any lady to follow the sati rite as chastely as it was done by Gandhari and others in past ages. A chaste wife like Gandhari would feel the separation of her husband to be more burning than actual fire. Such a lady can observe the sati rite voluntarily, and there is no criminal force by anyone. When the rite became a formality only and force was applied upon a lady to follow the principle, actually it became criminal, and therefore the ceremony was to be stopped by state law. This prophecy of Narada Muni to Maharaja Yudhisthira forbade him to go to his widowed aunt.

Answer 4

Widow-burning.

The burning of wives on the funeral pyres of their husbands, widow-burning, commonly known as sati ("suttee" in English), has been practiced in India since at least the fourth century B.C.E., when it was first recorded in Greek accounts. It was banned by British colonial law in 1829–1830 and survived in the native Indian states until the late 1880s, when it was effectively eradicated, although extremely rare cases persisted into the early twentieth century. Since India's independence in 1947—or more precisely since 1943—there has been a spectacular revival of the phenomenon in four Northern Indian states: Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and especially Rajasthan, a former stronghold of sati. Although the number of women who have committed sati since that date likely does not exceed forty (with thirty in Rajasthan alone.

http://www.deathreference.com/Vi-Z/Widow-Burning.html

Answer 5

The practise has nothing to do with love...in most cases the woman was thrown in by the relatives of the deceased. Most of the time not voluntary at all, and if the woman did not submit she knew she would be killed anyway.

It is just another example of the terrible abuse in flicked on woman in this world.

Answer 6

Suttee, and it was made illegal in the mid-1800's. It still occasionally happens today, especially when there is a large estate involved, and no I don't believe those acts are all voluntary.

Doc Hudson

Answer 7

I believe the practice was called "suttee".

Answer 8

I found it!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice)

It is called Sati.

Answer 9

I was just reading about this yesterday but I've forgotten too! - suttee, that's it

Answer 10

The ancient Norse did this also.