How voluntary was Sati during the Mughal era?
score:12
Sati were supposed to be voluntary. Since it was offensive to the sentiments of the Mughals, its rulers such as Akbar the Great explicitly banned involuntary sati. On a superficial level, therefore, most these women were not resistant to committing sati at all. In fact, the Mughals expended a great deal of effort trying to convince women applying for permission for sati to change their minds.
No woman can sacrifice herself without permission from the governor of the province in which she resides, and he never grants it until he shall have ascertained that she is not be turned aside from her purpose: to accomplish this desirable end the governor reasons with the widow and makes her enticing promises, after which, if these methods fail, he sometimes sends her among his women, that the effect of their remonstrances may be tried.
- François Bernier
Of course, that's not quite the full picture. These women were not killing themselves for no reason; they were acting in accordance with their social conditioning. In effect, they were brainwashed from birth to consider killing themselves on their husbands' funeral pyres to be a good thing.
As early as the 17th century, the French physician François Bernier noted that:
I soon found that this abominable practice is the effect of early and deeply rooted prejudices. Every girl is taught by her mother that it is virtuous and laudable in a wife to mingle her ashes with those of her husband, and that no woman of honour will refuse compliance with the established custom. These opinions men have always inculcated as an easy mode of keeping wives in subjection, of securing their attention in times of sickness, and of deterring them from administering poison to their husbands.
- François Bernier
Unsurprisingly, the high praise the ritual attracted made a sati widow desirable for her surviving family. For this reason it is not wholly unheard of for women to be coerced into committing sati, either by force or persuasion. Even some members of royalty, for example, were pressured into committing sati for political reasons. In general, it has been observed that the widow's family would be more likely to pressure the woman into sati for fear that she might bring shame upon them.
The kyndred of the husband that dies never force the wife to burne her self, but her owne kyndred, houlding it a greate disgrace to theire familie if shee should denye to bee burned; which some have done, but very fewe
- Nicholas Withington
Overall however, forced sati was probably not common. Travellers to the Mughal Empire recorded many instances of widows determined to commit sati, including cases where they committed suicide in less dramatic ways when denied permission.
At the same time, however, if a widow consented to sati, it seemed she would not be allowed to back out of it when the moment came. The English traveller Nicholas Withington wrote for instance that the widow's own parents would bind her and throw her back into the fire:
if any one of them purpose ot be burned and (after ceremonied done) bee brought to the fyre, and there, feeling the scorching heate, leape out of the fyer, her father and mother will take her and bbynde her and throwe her into the fyer and burne her per force.
- Nicholas Withington
More post
- 📝 What route would 1st century BCE travellers have taken from Alexandria to Jerusalem?
- 📝 Did the Romans hold the Isle of Wight and surrounding areas before the invasion in 43 AD?
- 📝 Has an entire generation of a young children in a civilization ever been orphaned and raised as loyals?
- 📝 Where did the Gaels originate?
- 📝 Of which countries was Ludwig von Mises a citizen?
- 📝 In the French Empire, what was the difference between french colonies éphémèras and comptoirs français?
- 📝 Did France & Italy continue to develop and manufacture sophisticated military hardware once under German control?
- 📝 Was the reign of Galba covered in the missing books of Tacitus' Annals?
- 📝 Did they really have automatic anti-aircraft cannons in WW2?
- 📝 Why did Russia support Serbia in the years leading to World War I?
- 📝 How important were reprints of scientific articles in scientific practice and communications before the the copier, the computer and the internet?
- 📝 Submarine record from WW2
- 📝 Were North African silver certificates actually printed in 1935?
- 📝 How to rebut Holocaust denial argument?
- 📝 Are there any publications in English about the Saltukid dynasty of Erzurum?
- 📝 Did Romans complain about sundials?
- 📝 Were the animals used for gladiatorial combat in Rome trained?
- 📝 Women in the Iranian revolution
- 📝 Why did German troops perform this parade near Szászház, in September 1916?
- 📝 Has the "lion dormant" ever been used in heraldry?
- 📝 Comparing Percentage Of Spanish Nobility Migrating To Latin America To Percentage Of Pan-European Nobility Migrating To USA And Canada
- 📝 What were the reasons for the Renaissance / scientific revolution in Europe?
- 📝 Did Einstein steal another mathematician's work?
- 📝 Why didn't Wehrmacht soldiers refuse to kill civilians?
- 📝 What is the earliest map of Washington, D.C.?
- 📝 What were the Lines of Ne Plus Ultra in the War of the Spanish Succession?
- 📝 When did Athenian archers pepper Spartan hoplites with arrows for days on an island?
- 📝 How granting Kosovo independence was a violation of international law?
- 📝 Were there universities that treated socioeconomic status as a major factor in college admissions?
- 📝 New Zealand uniform or elsewhere?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How voluntary was Sati during the Mughal era?
- 📝 How was the political landscape of Tibet during the era of fragmentation?
- 📝 How difficult was to escape from a naval battle after engaging into one during the Age of Sail?
- 📝 How advanced was the satellite technology during the Yom Kippur War?
- 📝 How close was the Soviet Union to collapsing during WW2?
- 📝 How was beer production affected by the war during WW2?
- 📝 How wide-spread was antisemitism in the USA during WWII?
- 📝 Was the European slave market in the East during the colonial era similar to the transatlantic slave market? If not (less brutal, etc), why?
- 📝 How much oil was spilled by the naval combatants during WW2?
- 📝 How was ownership of property managed during the Black Death, when so many original owners had died?
- 📝 How many Dutch lived in Indonesia during the colonial era vs native population?
- 📝 How was the relation between the Ottoman Empire and Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro during the Second Balkan War?
- 📝 How common was drug abuse and related deaths in the USA during the conservative 1950s?
- 📝 How was the Roman army in fact organized during Caesar's campaigns in Gaul?
- 📝 How important was the Suez Canal to the Allies during WWII?
- 📝 Was the name 'Valerie' used during the Regency Era (1811-1836)?
- 📝 How was the safety of allied leaders ensured in transportation for conferences during WW2?
- 📝 How dangerous was it to be a coast watcher during the Pacific War?
- 📝 How much knowledge of the past was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries?
- 📝 How was Enguerrand VII de Coucy able to keep his allegiance to both king of England and France during the Hundred Years War?
- 📝 Did Viet Nam suffer a famine any time during the 1980s? And if not, how close was it to famine?
- 📝 How widespread was literacy in classical Greek in Europe during the medieval period?
- 📝 How was Russian AFV production affected by the relocation of factories during WWII, after the German invasion of 1941?
- 📝 During internment, how effective was the US at identifying and detaining Japanese-Americans?
- 📝 How was the term "Mandate of Heaven" used during the rise and fall of Chinese dynasties?
- 📝 How significant was the US military role during the NATO campaign in Libya?
- 📝 During the Battle of Britain, how prepared was the East Front?
- 📝 During the Chola dynasty how extensive was the use of Sanskrit in government and by the people?
- 📝 How pro-Soviet was India join during the cold war?
- 📝 Credible historic description of how the daily life was for the middle-class during the financial crisis of 1929