Deorala Sati

Time appears to have alluded me in recent weeks, hence the mini sabbatical I have taken from writing. Now that I am all set up (hopefully) with a new abode in the leafy East End (oh yes!!) I can hopefully scribe a little more regularly.

In the last week or so I have been engrossed in a book, called No Full Stops in India, by the one time India correspondent for the BBC Mark Tully. A subject that grabbed my particular attention was that of the ancient Hindu practice of Sati. Performing Sati is a specifically female phenomena, in effect the self sacrifice of a women, who, on the death of her husband chooses to burn herself on his funeral pyre . The name Sati translates as 'virtuous women' and the act is considered to ensure their husbands salvation. Historically, women who have committed Sati have been worshipped and revered, often with temples erected in their honour.

The ritual caused a major outcry with the notorious incident of the Deorala Sati in 1987. This case concerned the Sati of an 18 year old widow Roop Kanwar, who, on learning of her husbands death announced she was to immolate herself. However, after the alleged voluntary nature of the Sati reports began to surface that the Sati was not through Roop's own volition. What began to unravel instead were stories of Roops promiscuity and an exposure of the alleged dark underbelly of rural Indian life, with tales of female suppression and abuse. The case exposed deep rifts between the rich western educated elite and the poor rural underclass. The case became one pitting a burgeoning feminist movement that abhorred the Sati tradition against those who emphasised ultra conservative Hinduism. While the case was reopened in 2004 after an initial failure to prosecute 11 people, there has as yet been no prosecutions. What the case did achieve was the banning of and glorification of Sati, it was the use of the funeral pyre site as a temple and its subsequent financial gains, that were used as a motivation for the supposed enforced Sati by prosecutors in the original case.

Despite the somewhat shocking nature of Sati, it must be remembered that the act itself is an extremely rare occurrence. As with many alien concepts in the eyes of western commentators, such as sharia law and arranged marriage, its role is more often than not overplayed to the society it derives from. It is also worth noting that while the case of the Deorala Sati is a mysterious and disturbing event the essence of the act is replicated in many forms throughout the globe. A recent manifestation of a wifes devotion to her husband through self sacrifice was seen this week with the suicide pact of BBC composer Edward Downes and his wife at a Swiss clinic. It should therfore be remembered that while the activities of the rural heart of India may seem strange, they are no stranger than the events the occur in our own seemingly 'normal' society.