Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.s3.t3.4

v2.c18.s3.t3.4

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