The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c9.78

c9.78

That it is a religious duty for a woman of sufficient courage and resolution to accompany her husband was so deep-rooted a conviction in medieval times, that we sometimes come across cases of betrothed but unmarried women insisting to mount the funeral pyres of their would-be husbands. Mustaqui has recorded one such case; the betrothed husband died in trying to save his sweetheart from a serpent, which eventually bit him with fatal effects. Though not yet married, the girl insisted on becoming a Satī and burnt herself on the funeral pyre of her lover (*J. A. S. B.*, 1935, p. 259).