Eleventh International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

Sati, or widow immolation, was the act of burning of the widow on the funeral pyre with her deceased husband. It drew strong reactions from all sides of the ideological spectrum about the history of the ritual and the interpretation of Hindu scriptures, to the place of women in “modern” India. What were the Western readers expected to see in the image of the burning woman: horror at the barbarity of sati as a practice, or awe at the devotion of sati as a woman? Was she a “supreme being” or a victim? This paper examines the practice through the variables of agency and personhood of the woman, and how the materiality of her body was transformed into the imagery of the sati. The focus is on the way the woman as a subject was born, formed, and repositioned in a traditional-colonial amalgamation. In order to do so, three positions are established: one is of British women making sense of the violent act, relying on “feelings.” Second is the lens of “gender performativity,” to study it as social construction. Lastly, the language of pain is applied to the ritual. These narratives analyze the practice against the model of ideal Hindu wifehood which is neglected by the pro- or anti-sati camps. An ethnographic study of a sati temple in Rajasthan has also been undertaken by me, to gauge the opinions of the local women regarding the obsolete custom, and why they continue to visit the shrine to offer prayers.