A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c12.70

c12.70

No single method was adopted for the disposal of the dead; both cremation and inhumation with or without urns are freely mentioned. A widow offered a rice-ball to her dead husband on a bed of grass (darbha) and the pulaiyan had a part to play in this funeral ritual. Sati was fairly common though by no means universal. The heroism and devotion of the sati were doubtless applauded by public opinion, but the practice was certainly not encouraged, much less enforced. The perfect wife was held to be one who, at the death of her husband, entered the burning pyre with as little concern as if she were entering cool water for a bath.