The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c9.53

c9.53

We have already observed that the Satī was originally a Kshatriya custom. The accounts of the Greek historians make it clear that it was confined to fighting classes only in the 4th century B. C. The *Bṛihaddaivata*, while recognising the validity of the custom among the Kshatriyas, doubts whether it could be permissible for other castes to follow it¹. The *Padmapurāṇa* extols the custom to the sky, but expressly prohibits it to Brāhmaṇa women. It declares that any person, who will be guilty of helping a Brāhmaṇa widow to the funeral pyre, will be guilty of the dreadful and unatonable sin of the murder of a Brāhmaṇa¹ (*brahmahatyā*).