From royal rituals to grim reality: The rise of Sati practice in mediaeval India
India TodayThe burning of human flesh can cause the most excruciating pain, unlike any other harm inflicted on the human body. On December 4, 1829, the Bengal Sati Regulation or Regulation 17 of the Bengal Code was promulgated as a legal act in British India under East India Company rule by the then Governor-General, William Bentinck. The act made the practice of Sati -- the immolation of a Hindu widow on the funeral pyre of her deceased husband -- illegal in all jurisdictions of British India and subject to legal prosecution. In 1803, William Carey, a British reformer, recorded 438 cases of Sati within a 30-mile radius of Calcutta, despite the city's ban on the practice. The practice of Sati in Bengal in the late 18th century became predominantly popular Subsequent legislation addressed broader issues affecting women in India, including the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, the Female Infanticide Prevention Act, and the Age of Consent Act.
History of this topic
Dear Amish Tripathi, You're Wrong. Sati Was Never Just a 'Minor Practice' in India
News 18Discover Related
)
)
