K.Ram ji,
Thank you for starting this discussion. We should definitely create awareness and discuss aspects we don't otherwise get to see about Sati and other such concepts and practices.
I went through the article of above link. A few things are not corraborative to the facts.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Sati-Pratha is nowhere mentioned in Hindu scriptures. Not a hint of it.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well. There are no examples of forceful burning, but there are indeed examples of volunteer Sati cases in scriptures.
1. Mahabharat: Maadri the wife of Pandu, committed sati after Pandu's death. But again reason was guilt of (indirectly) being the cause of her husbands death.
2. Shiv Puran: Sati - the wife of Shiva - threw herself in Yagna-kunda, when Shiva was insulted. Again, the reason was that she felt responsible for the insult since it was she who had insisted upon Shiva joining the ceremony un-invited. Strictly not sati case.
But, at the same time, there are plentiful examples where famous widows did not commit sati, thereby proving that sati was certainly neither mandatory, nor encouraged. Some famous widows:
1. Ramayana: Kaushalya, Sumitra, Kaikeyi lived on for many years even after the death of King Dasaratha.
2. Ramayana: Mandodari lived on after the death of Ravana. (I read somewhere - she married Vibhishana?)
3. Mahabharat: No evidence of the wives of Kauravas committing Sati. In fact there is a story in Shanti Parva, where Pandavas feel guily seeing the widows of Kauravas, and would conduct a grand Yagna for the guilt.
In latter times too we have several examples of widows from Meera to Ma Sharada (wife of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa).
Thank you for starting this discussion. We should definitely create awareness and discuss aspects we don't otherwise get to see about Sati and other such concepts and practices.
I went through the article of above link. A few things are not corraborative to the facts.
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Sati-Pratha is nowhere mentioned in Hindu scriptures. Not a hint of it.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Well. There are no examples of forceful burning, but there are indeed examples of volunteer Sati cases in scriptures.
1. Mahabharat: Maadri the wife of Pandu, committed sati after Pandu's death. But again reason was guilt of (indirectly) being the cause of her husbands death.
2. Shiv Puran: Sati - the wife of Shiva - threw herself in Yagna-kunda, when Shiva was insulted. Again, the reason was that she felt responsible for the insult since it was she who had insisted upon Shiva joining the ceremony un-invited. Strictly not sati case.
But, at the same time, there are plentiful examples where famous widows did not commit sati, thereby proving that sati was certainly neither mandatory, nor encouraged. Some famous widows:
1. Ramayana: Kaushalya, Sumitra, Kaikeyi lived on for many years even after the death of King Dasaratha.
2. Ramayana: Mandodari lived on after the death of Ravana. (I read somewhere - she married Vibhishana?)
3. Mahabharat: No evidence of the wives of Kauravas committing Sati. In fact there is a story in Shanti Parva, where Pandavas feel guily seeing the widows of Kauravas, and would conduct a grand Yagna for the guilt.
In latter times too we have several examples of widows from Meera to Ma Sharada (wife of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa).