History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v5.c72.248

v5.c72.248

It is remarkable that while slaves and even attendants were often buried with the master in Babylon and Celtic Britain, there is no similar reference to the burial or cremation of anybody with the deceased even in the ancient procedure found in the Sat Br It is only possible to say that in some cases in the pre-Vedic age the wife might have burnt herself along with the deceased husband on the funeral pyre. There is no doubt that later works like the Viṣṇudharmasūtra recommended to women the practice of *Satī* as an option to leading the life of perfect celibacy after the husband's death.