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The Ritual Of Sacrificial Suicide

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Sacrificial suicide, more commonly known as sati, commenced in the Indian subcontinent as a Hindu custom. Devi Sati was born to Queen Parusuti and King Dakhsha, who, desiring to parent a baby girl turned to Devi Adi Parashakti to seek help. The Devi promised to grant their wish, stating that she herself would be born to them, but that if her manifestation is ever humiliated or insulted, she would leave the queen and king’s lives forever. When Devi Sati reached adolescence, she wished to wed Lord Shiva against the King’s command, but the King humiliated her so Sati set fire to herself and bore a sacrifice to defend her honor. The custom of sati persisted in the subcontinent for centuries and in fact persists to today. A widow immolating herself on her husband’s funeral pyre or committing suicide one or another way is seen as a symbol or marital felicity and longevity, as specified by Hindu scriptures. British imperialists not only justified imperialism by exemplifying sati, but also often took credit of the practice’s abolishment in 1829. The specifics and history of this practice can be demonstrate through three divergent theories: stadial, hybridity, and post-structuralist.
Lord William Bentinck, the governor-general of India (1833-1835), portrayed sati as a widely spread barbarous practice and demanded British action to help save the helpless Indian women. However, during his reign sati was not as omnipresent as the British colonists made it seem. A maximum number

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