Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.s3.t3.1

v2.c18.s3.t3.1

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