Social and Political Life in the Vijayanagara Empire (A.D. 1346 – A.D. 1646) v2.c18.s3.t5.14

v2.c18.s3.t5.14

We have yet to find out the probable causes which brought sati to the limelight of south Indian history. We admit that the following assumptions are merely suggestions. In the first place, we have to note a singular precedent set by the members of the royal families of Vijayanagara. It was the custom according to which queens committed sati. Nuniz relates the following: "Then he (Kṛṣṇa Dēva Rāya) took a ring from his finger and gave it to one of his pages, so that he might show it to his queens in token of his death, that they might burn themselves according to custom".² It is not difficult to imagine that on the failure of a campaign, the queens and women-folk should have performed *sahagamana* to escape dishonour at the hands of the Muhammadans. The king in mediaeval times stood as the embodiment of all that was great and virtuous; and the example of the queens was bound to have a profound effect on the minds of the women of Vijayanagara. This may account for the prevalence of the rite in the capital as well as in the provinces where, as related by Muhammad Sharif Hanafi in his *Majālis-u Salātin*, on the death of a ruler called "Kaner Rai" in A.D. 1628, his 700 wives performed *sahagamana*.³