The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c9.6

c9.6

The custom of the sacrifice of the widow at the funeral of her husband was widely prevailing in ancient times. There is no direct evidence to show that it prevailed in the Indo-European age, but the fact that it was practised among the Gauls, the Goths the Norwegians, the Celts, the Slavs and the Thracians would justify the inference that it was probably well established among the Indo-Europeans. It was quite common among the Scythians. In China if a widow killed herself in order to follow her husband to heaven, her corpse was taken out in a great procession¹.