Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.s3.t3: C. Sati in Pre-Vijayanagara Times
Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.s3.t3
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C. Sati in Pre-Vijayanagara Times
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There are some historical notices of sati in early times. A non-sectarian inscription dated A. D. 510-511 narrates that a chieftain or nobleman called Gōparāja, in the company of a powerful king named Bhānu Gupta, came to the place where a pillar was set up, and fought a battle. Gōparāja was killed in the fight and his wife accompanied him by cremating herself on his funeral pyre.¹ In the pathetic farewell speech of the Queen Rājyavatī, the widow of king Dharma Dēva of Nepāl, as recorded in an inscription dated Samvat 386 (about A. D. 705), we have the following : "As thy father is now dead, why preserve my useless life ! Reign then, dear son ; today, even, I follow my husband on his road. Of what use are the fetters of hope that are lengthened for enjoyment, and that bind me to a widowed life in a world similar to a lying dream. I will depart ". The same epigraph however narrates that when her son dissuaded her with tears in his eyes, " then together with her virtuous son she performed the last rites for her own husband ".²
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¹ Fleet, *Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum*, III, p. 92.
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² Bhagavanlal Indraji, *I. A.*, IX, pp. 165-6, Fleet, ibid., III, p. 92, n. (2). With the evidence of these two epigraphs, we may reject the statement (made by Wilkins, *Mod Hind.*, p. 380) that the example of 'Sanjōgata' (daughter of Jāyachand of Kanouj), who performed sati in A. D. 1176 is the earliest authentic account we have of *sahagamana*.
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In southern India sati was not unknown in early times. " The practice of honouring and even worshipping women who committed sati appears to have been very old in southern India. Kannagi, the heroine of the Tamil poem Śilappadigāram, died on hearing of the unjust death inflicted upon her husband by the Pāṇḍyan king of Madura. She was thenceforth worshipped in shrines built for her throughout southern India and Ceylon. In the latter island she is known as Pattini and is very popular. The mother of Rājarāja I is stated to have committed sati and in consequence of this act, evidently an image of her was set up in the temple of Tanjore. Perantalamma, a woman who committed sati, is equally reputed in the Telugu districts ".³
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³ Krishna Sastri, *South Indian Gods*, p. 229.
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The instance of the wife of a Śūdra, given in a record dated Śaka 979 (A. D. 1057) is more an example of self-immolation rather than sati.¹ But in the same year we have a remarkable case of sati in the Karṇāṭaka. It is that of Dēkabbe, the wife of the ruler of Navile-nāḍ, Echa of Pervvayal. The epigraph composed by the poet Malla, son of Āditya, tells us the following story about her: "To the virtuous (with all praise) the jewel of women, Ponnabbe, and to Raviga, was born Dēkabbe, who was given in marriage to Echa of Pervvayal, the ruler of Navile-nāḍ, of the Kuruvanda family...While, famous as a wrestler, a mill in grinding his enemies, he (i.e., Echa) was thus living happily, having thrown and in the crush killed his (i.e. ? Rājendra Choḷa's) kinsman, the king (i.e., Rājēndra Choḷa) had him taken off straight to Talekāḍ and put to death. On hearing the report that they had put to death the Vēḷa of the Kali age, brave and generous,—that beautiful one the light of Raviga's family went forth to the fire-pit to die.
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¹ Kittel, *Ep. Ind.*, VI, p. 215. Note the clause used against Brahmans in v. 23, p. 219. An undated and defaced inscription written in archaic characters records an instance of sati in the times of a Mahābali Bāṇarasa. 555 of 1906. These examples of sati in the south invalidate the bold statements of Elphinstone (*History of India*, p. 190) and of Grey (*Travels of Pietro della Valle*, II, p., 266, n. 1) that "the practice never occurs south of the river Kistna (or Kṛiṣṇā)", and that "cases of widow-burning in Southern India are not common". These assertions are applicable to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries but not to the earlier times. B.A.S.
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"Her father and mother together, and all her relations, coming, besought her, saying, 'Daughter, do not die',—and all falling down, embraced her feet. But the innocent Dēkabbe, becoming angry, exclaiming said, 'Being praised as the daughter of Raviga, the ruler of Nugu-nāḍ, and the wife of the ruler of Navile-nāḍ, can I have any mind to live, and disgrace the good name of his house who gave me (in marriage) and of his who took me (in marriage)?'
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"Having thus made her decision, she presented to the god a garden to provide for a perpetual lamp, and saying it was for the offerings, that lotus-eyed one, with reverence, also presented certain other land (described). On all united again and again saying, 'Dont (do it): stop—' she said— 'Be silent: I will not stop', and with kindly words giving away (her) land, goldembroidered cloths, cows and money, and folding her hands with love to the god of gods, she entered the blazing flames, Dēakkabbe, winning the approval of all the world and the daily celebration of her praise and went to the world of gods."¹
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¹ E. C., IV., Hg. 18, p. 69: Kavicharite, I, p. 78 (Rev.ed.)
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This detailed account of Dēkkabbe's daring is necessary if we are to understand that sati was by no means a compulsory custom in the ancient times. Dēkkabbe, who is called in the same inscription "the celebrated mine of heroism", was not the only one who could enter the funeral pyre of her husband. Śākka-gāmuṇḍa's (son) Śiñja-gāmuṇḍa, evidently of Rājēndra-Śōḷa-vaḷanāḍu of Śōḷamaṇḍalam, pierced a tiger in A. D. 1118 and died. Thereupon his wife Śikkavai, daughter of Vaśava-gāmuṇḍa, entered the fire.² On Sundara Chōḷa alias Parāntaka II's death, his queen Vānavan Mahādēvi entered into sahagamana.³ In the siege of Jambūr in A. D. 1191, Biraṇa "fell upon him (i.e., Ekkalarasa of Uddare), pierced his horse, seized his money and slaying him, went to svarga. His wife Biyavve, when setting this stone, died along with him and took svarga by force".⁴
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² E. C., IX, Kn. 12, p. 122.
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³ Ep. Report for 1906, p. 50.
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⁴ E. C., VII, Sk. 38, p. 46.
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Sometimes, the woman who committed sati explained the motive of her action. An undated inscription, which probably belongs to the reign of Vīra Rājēndra Chōḷa Dēva, registers a decision made by a woman before committing sati. She says that if she lived after her husband, she would become the slave of his co-wives. Whoever said she ought not to die, would incur the sin of prostituting his wife. If she did not die, those who did not bind her and throw her into the fire and kill her would incur the sin of prostituting their wives.⁵
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⁵ 156 of 1906, Ep. Report for 1907, p. 77. Vīra-rājēndra Śōḷa Dēva was a name of the Chōḷa king Kulōttuṅga III, and also of Rājarāja III. Ep. Report for 1907, p. 76.
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This compulsory levy on the cruelty of man was not, however, the order of the day. Women committed sati on the death of their husbands in a fight or in war. In A. D. 1287 Kūḍali was entered, the cows captured and Beṇṇavali-Janne-guru's village ruined. Then Bommarasa of Hosaguṇḍa, "stopped the riot, fought and slew and went to svarga". His wife, whose name is effaced in the record, "gave arm and hand and went to svarga".¹ On the death of Babbeya Nāyaka's son the Mahāsāmanta Birudara-gōva, Mahādēva Nāyaka, in the reign of Ballāḷa II, his wife Bibove Nāykitti ascended the funeral pyre (bovviḷige) of her husband and became a sati.²
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¹ E. C., VII, Sh. 61-2, pp. 23-24.
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² My. Arch. Report for 1914-15, p. 53.