The Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, from Prehistoric Times to the Present Day c9.79

c9.79

The available evidence shows that, barring a few exceptions, most of the widows, who used to become Satīs, were free agents in their choice. The average Rajput or Kshatriya lady ascended the funeral pyre with the same reckless courage with which her husband used to embrace death on the battle field, when leading a forlorn hope against very heavy odds. It is probable, however, that in some cases the force of public opinion may have been felt to be too strong. It is equally clear that young and childless widows in particular may have in some cases decided to terminate their life, with their husbands because they feared that it would be too dreary for them. Remarriage was out of question, and even for their maintenance they had to depend upon not very sympathetic relations¹. Grown up widows like the mother of king Harsha would feel that the purpose of their life was over, that they had nothing more to achieve or enjoy, and that it was therefore in the fitness of things that they should accompany their beloved spouses. The vast majority of widows, who terminated their life on their husbands' funeral pyres, did so out of genuine love and devotion to their husbands whom they also revered as God. They believed that the course they were following was in the best spiritual interest both of themselves and their husbands. A stern sense of duty, a stoical contempt of physical pain, and the hope of an eternal union with their beloved husbands in heaven sustained them through the terrible ordeal on the burning pyre. Naturally society held them in reverence and immortalised their memory by suitable memorials, as it does in the case of heroes who deliberately and cheerfully sacrifice their lives in the cause of their religion or mother-land out of a sense of duty and patriotism, often after undergoing long and excruciating pain on the dismal and desolate battle field.