Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.683

c7.683

The practice of widow-burning (satī), as it is, fits quite well in the frame of the Brahmanical law of marriage as a sharpened form of the severe demands made by the Brahmanical law-givers on the matrimonial fidelity of the widow. Nevertheless this custom is hardly ever mentioned in the whole range of the Vedic literature and the Sutra-works although the elaborate descriptions of the funeral ceremonies in the Śrauta and Gṛhya Sūtras offer excellent opportunities for their treatment, Only the late Vai.-Gṛ. refers to the Sahamaraṇa in which The principal Smṛtis are silent about Satī.