Can Sati Ever Be Justified or Defended?

There are different theories about the origins of Sati. Some theories say that Sati was introduced to prevent wives from poisoning their wealthy husbands and marrying their real lovers. Some theories say that Sati began with a jealous queen who heard that dead kings were welcomed in heaven by hundreds of beautiful women, called Apsaras. And therefore when her husband died, she demanded to be burnt on her dead husband's coffin and so to arrive with him to heaven and this way to prevent the Apsaras from consorting with her husband.

The women are given a great deal of respect for doing something like this which they deserve, they are treated like goddesses and worshipped by al those around them which shows that the women are not being mistreated by this ritual they are being treated with the up most respect for carrying on the tradition and they themselves feel honoured.

For many this Hindu tradition symbolises the essence of wifely devotion. Which I agree with as it must show a lot of devotion if you are willing to go through all that pain to show how much you love your husband and that you want to be with him in heaven.

The other side to the Sati Ritual is that the widows may have no other choice as once the husband is dead no one else would have married them and no money would be left to them so what else could they do. They most probably would have been used to living in quite good conditions, so living in poverty would be unbearable to most. A

Some topics in this essay:
Westerner India, Sati Hindu, Sati Ritual, theories sati, dead husband's coffin, dead husband's, husband's coffin, act self-immolation, sati ritual, welcomed heaven,