Traverses on Less Trodden Path of Indian Philosophy and Religion

Author(s): Yajneshwar S Shastri
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 180

Place of suicide...
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We have also several examples of men and women, who adopted self-immolation, out of devotion to their masters, mothers and for other sacred causes. Monuments are erected in memories of those brave and devoted persons. Mostly members of royal families resorted to selfimmolation, purely from personal affection and devotion, on a mass scale. When there was enough attachment to persons or even to ideas, people lost their interest in life and resorted to this method. Harşacarita of Bāpabhatta 79 tells us that, before and after the death of king Prabhākaravardhana, many of the king's friends, ministers, servants and favourite killed themselves. Kumāra Laksmana, the general of Vira Ballala, with his wife Suggalā Devi and the army-men attached to him, resorted to self-immolation, purely from personal affection towards the king, 78
Sati or self-immolation of widows was a very important form of voluntary death. It means entering the funeral pyre of ones husband to reunite with bim in the next birth or to acquire innumerable religious merits.
As regards this kind of self-immolation or sati, there is no explicit reference in the Vedas. In fact, remarriage of the widow was allowed in the Vedic period and she was asked to enjoy the bliss of children and wealth. 4 We do not find any explicit reference about sati in the Brāhmanas (c. 1500 B.C.-700 B.C.), Aranyakas and Grhya-sūtras7 (600-300 B.C.). Even in oldest Buddhist literature there is no reference to it. Moreover, we do not find any particular reference to this kind of self. immolation either in Kautilya's Artkaśāstro, or in the ancient Dharmasüfras, or in the early Smsti literature like Manusmrti and Yajñavalkya. smīti though these deal with an elaborate discussion of the duties of women and widows as well as suicide in general. During the 4th century B.C. and earlier, few cases of sati are recorded and the widows of king Kantirasa and Varisyanta are stated to have ascended the funeral pyre.16 We have, the earliest, historical instance of sati in the wife of the Hindu general Keteus who died in 316 B.C., while fighting against Antigones, The Greek historians tell us that one of his two wives was led to the pyre by her brother and that she was all gleeful even when the flames enveloped her person.77 But this was a rare occurance in the ancient times. It is only in the early Christian era that this practice gradually 72. Harsacarita, V, Pub : Vidyabhavan Sanskrit Granthmala, Vārānasi, 1958, pp. 250 etc. 73. Indian Antiquary, XXXV, p. 130 74. History of Suicide in India, pp. 128-130. 75. A. S. Altekar, Position of Women in Hindu Civilisation, Benaras, 1938, p. 137 ff. 76. History of Suiciae in India, p. 137. 77. History of Suicide in India, pp. 139-40.