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Re: Questions about hinduism
In article <4jt42t$6th@babbage.ece.uc.edu>,
Mani Varadarajan <mani@srirangam.esd.sgi.com> wrote:
>In article <4jqs7q$gbh@babbage.ece.uc.edu> dchakrav@netserv.unmc.edu (Dhruba Chakravarti) writes:
>> [Sati] is a rite when married women killed themselves by jumping into the
>> cremation fire of their dead husbands. They did such things in order to
>> save themselves from humiliation by invading armies or out of extreme
>> attachment to their husbands.
>>
>
>Sati was also a custom that was generally followed
>by ``respectable'' north Indian Hindu families,
>particularly in Rajasthan. What Dhruba has written
>above is only half the story.
That is okay. The 'other half' of the story is so
goddam well-known that the ONLY things that come
to minds of people when they think of Hinduism is
caste and sati. So the 'other half' has already found
its way into print many many times over. I support
Dhruba's intent to give expression to his half.
r
>More often than not,
>women did not undertake the practice of Sati
>voluntarily.
>
>This dastardly practice was often forced upon the
>wife after her husband died. All too often, the
>in-laws believed that the woman's duty was to join
>her husband in heaven (or wherever he may be) and
>serve him there as well. God forbid she live a
>complete fulfilling life without her husband!
>
>Though it is rare, Hindu women to this day are
>sometimes immolated by their relatives after their
>husbands die. It is unfortunate that the leaders
>of the Hindu political renaissance would rather
>concentrate on inter-communal arguments than
>clean out their own closet.
>
>Mani
>--
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