History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v2.c32.20

v2.c32.20

In numerous epigraphic records reference is made to the practice of *satī*. Among the earliest is the one in 191 of the Gupta era (510 A. D.) in the Gupta Inscriptions (ed. by Fleet) p. 91. Vide also the Eran posthumous stone pillar Inscription of Goparāja which says that his wife accompanied him on the funeral pyre when he was killed in battle; I. A. vol. IX. p. 164 (Nepal Inscription of 705 A. D., where Rājyavatī, widow of Dharmadeva, bids her son Mahādeva to take up the reins of government that she may follow her husband); the Belaturu Inscription of śaka 979 of the time of Rājendradeva Cola (E. I. vol. VI, p. 213) where a śūdra woman Dekabbe, on hearing of her husband's death, burnt herself in spite of the strong opposition of her parents who then erected a stone monument to her; E. I. vol. 14 p. 265, 267 where a grant is made in śaka 1103 to a temple by Sinda Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara Rācamalla on a request by two *satīs*, widows of his general Becirāja; E. I. vol. 20, p. 168 (of Cedi *saṁvat* 919) which refers to three queens that became *satīs*; E. I. vol X, p. 39 where the Temara gate stone inscription of śaka 1246 speaks of Māṇikyadevī as *satī* on the death of her husband Āmaṇa who was an officer of king Hariścandra; E. I. vol. 20 p. 58 (Mistra Deoli Inscription in Jodhpur when two queens of a Gohila Rāṇā became *satīs*); E. I. vol. 16, p. 10, *n.* 4 and p. 11, *n.* 2 for *satī* records of śaka 1365 and 1362. In an article on 'Satī memorial stones' in J. B. O. R. S. vol. 23, p. 435 ff. it is shown how the memorial stones usually bear the figure of the upraised arm and of the sun and the moon on either side and a group of stars. Among the well-known latest historical examples of *satī* is that of Ramābāī, wife of the Peshwa Madhavrao I, in 1772 A. D. The Jauhar practised by the Rajput ladies of Chitor and other places for saving themselves from unspeakable atrocities at the hands of the victorious Moslems are too well-known to need any lengthy notice.