The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c9.43

c9.43

Unfortunately this crusade sponsored by wise thinkers failed to have any effect. The custom continued to gain in popularity mainly among fighting classes. Ascetic ideals were gaining the upper hand in society; the conduct of a widow boldly burning herself with the remains of her husband appeared to it as the most glorious example of supreme self sacrifice. The theory of Karman also was modified so as to support the Satī custom. There was no doubt that normally a relation could not join a dead person in the other world by dying after him, as the Karman of the two persons would lead them to different destinations. The Satī however, was an exception, the merit of her self sacrifice was more than sufficient to annihilate her husband's sins and raise him to heaven to live in eternal union with his wife. The Scythian influence further helped the spread of the, custom. A considerable portion of northern India was under the rule of Scythians from *c.* 150 B. C. to *c.* 250 A. D., and among them the custom of burning the wife along with the remains of a departed chief was quite common. The custom was already practised by some stray Kshatriya tribes; the example of the new rulers tended to make it popular among the rest.