Lalita's husband could not be saved even after many attempts. What was that age? Roughly 40. Lalita 15. No, the conch shell was not broken. He was dragged to the crematorium. Even though Lalita had heard the name of the crematorium for so long, she was scared. Tenara lives in the crematorium. Even today Lalita is scared. Not to the crematorium, but to her husband's family. They will push Lalita with vermilion in the blazing fire. How many get the opportunity to be in heaven with her husband? Lalita thinks she has escaped, once she escapes and gets lost in the darkness of the crematorium, will they find her?
Ghosts seemed more reliable than humans. No, he can't escape. Has been held tight. Tried to accept death simply. How much will it hurt? He went to cook the service and held the pan empty handed. When he remembered the pain, he wanted to drive her away. Straight to heaven, there are no barriers in between. Calmed down and sat on the cheetah. Everyone thought what a lucky girl!
The character at the top is fictional. But the stories of millions of such Lalitas being burnt in the fire are not imaginary. It took a long time for humanity to come up with the idea of how much pain they had to suffer.
The name 'Sati' came from the goddess Sati. She was the daughter of King Daksha, as well as the wife of Devadidev Shiva. Daksha could not accept that his daughter would marry a vagabond vagabond. One day, in front of Sati, Shiva reprimanded her harshly and Sati committed suicide as she could not bear her husband's insult. Sati was the name given to this practice of climbing a cheetah with a dead husband by Anglo-Indian writers. In fact, it was called 'Sahagaman', 'Sahamaran' or 'Satidah'. There was a custom called 'satibrata', where a woman used to promise her husband that if the husband passed away earlier, she would also go to Sahamran. If sati was observed, the woman was called 'satimata'.
It is known that there is no order of satidah in the Vedas, but the posthumous wife has also been asked to lead a normal life. There are many characters in the mythology of traditional religion who lived in the existing tabiyyat after the death of their husbands. But coexistence was nothing new, not that it was first introduced in India, nor did it end in India. There is also a description of the coexistence of 300 BC. So how did satidah become so common?
Being a chaste woman from a family is a matter of great honor. This practice was a sign of a woman's ultimate submission, chastity and piety to her husband. Staying at home after his son's death was a different experience. Naturally, all the families wanted their daughter-in-law to go to Samharan and increase the respect of the family in exchange for her cheap life.
But it could be seen that she became a widow at a very young age, even though she was shocked by her husband's death, there is no reason to mourn. Again the bride is quite sensible. Surviving for a while longer than the promise of the Hereafter. All such women used to sit crouched before climbing the cheetah. In fact, there were very few women who spontaneously fell in love with the afterlife and proceeded spontaneously towards the blazing fire. Some shouted and cried and asked to be released. So that no one would hear this sound, the mourners would fill it with the sound of drums, madals and flutes. The reluctant girls were given opium as if they were unconscious. Someone was hit on the back of the head and knocked unconscious. The aim was to prevent the injury from happening again so that the girl would die. Must be burned alive according to custom. Only then will the wife be able to give birth to a higher family in the next birth, if she is lucky, she will become the wife of this husband.
From 1500 to 1800, thousands of women were burnt alive in their husbands' cheetahs in the hope of gaining respect in the next life or pride in society.
There were some rules for going to Sahamaran. Among them was a list of people who could not have intercourse - if a woman's child was too young to take care of herself, if a woman was menstruating, if she had a baby in her womb. Since the beginning of the Mughal rule, the emperors have tried to stop the coexistence, excluding allegations of 'hurting religious sentiments'. Emperor Shah Jahan laid down a rule not to allow the child's mother to go to Sahamaran. The kings make it a rule that in order to perform satidah with someone, one has to take his permission. But since the kings did not go to the field to search, the happiness of the people could not be mixed with the sorrow, the husband's family would take permission by bribing.
If it weren't for people like William Kerry and Rammohun Roy, this horrible practice might have continued for many more decades. William Carey was a Baptist missionary from England. In 1899 he had the opportunity to see the cohabitation of a woman. Her soul trembled at the sight. Decide not to breathe a sigh of relief until this ritual is stopped. He and two of his colleagues, Joshu Marshman and William Ward, began to walk from door to door in the upper court to stop the satidah. They wrote an anti-satidah article to the then Governor General, Lord Wellesley, mentioning all the details of satidah.
In 1812, Rammohun Roy started a movement against satidah. He saw his wife forced into a cheetah. Turning to the crematorium, he continued to try to convince the people of the deceased's house. As the founder of Brahmo Samaj, it was not difficult to get many more followers in this work. He formed a group among them so that they too could go to different crematoriums. He proves in his writings that Hindu scriptures do not speak of satidah. Rammohun Roy published a pamphlet in 1821 and William Carey published a book in 1823 when the practice of satidah took a huge turn in 1815-18. The company didn't want to hurt the ankles. So there was nothing strongly against satidah.
In 1827, Lord William Bentinck became the Governor of India with many responsibilities. Bentinck could not delay a moment to stop this practice. Charles Metcalfe told Bentinck that the condition of the English monarchy in India was not very good. If satidah is stopped, the rebels can look for opportunities for revolution. To Bentinck, the life of a widow was greater than the fear of revolution.
December 4, 1829. Lord Bentinck enacted a law forbidding satidah and punishing those involved in satidah in criminal courts. William Carey was given the task of translating it. The pious Kerry dropped out of his church that day to translate. He felt that even if a widow died because of the delay in translating, it was her responsibility. By the middle of 1830, the rule of law was extended to Bombay and Madras. Thousands of followers of traditional religions in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa have filed petitions against the law. According to them, the British government is trying to sniff out their religious issues. When the matter reached the Privy Council in London, Rammohun Roy petitioned against the law. The Privy Council voted in favor of the law.
Even then, not all regions of India have enacted anti-satidah laws. It took up to 181 to completely ban satidah in India.
Mebar maintained the tradition for many days. But the anti-satidah awareness among the people peaked then. When Maharana Swarup Singh died, none of his wives agreed to go with him.
Satidah could not be stopped by enacting laws in remote areas. Satidah was going on in secret. When the practice began to suffer social condemnation, the centuries-old evil practice of satidah gradually disappeared from India.
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