Sati Pratha in Hinduism - True Face

Sati Pratha or Simply Sati
A Hindu philosophy of women ness

SATI PRATHA – AS KNOWN TO MODERN WORLD
As far the common understanding about ‘Sati’ goes, it goes as about burning of a widow. The hype of burning women goes with an explanation like this: if the husband dies in an unnatural manner, the widow is forced to be burnt in the funeral if she herself does not accept it. The reasons behind this act as known are also many. One view known is that the woman and man are two bodies but one soul and hence death of one should be result in death of another, which would bring fame to the women for her faithfulness. Another view is that the widow may induce notorious people to go wrong against her. And at many times, it is simply accepted as a part of Hinduism as a traditional practice. I believe that the variance in views exists and signifies that it has nothing to do with religion. And there is a sound reason why I believe so – No where in any authenticated Hindu literature did I find such a rule. I agree, that there had been few occasional instances of such event, but then how did it come on the whole Hindu community – is a questionable point. Such instances of burning widows alive in the name of ‘Sati’ had been sometimes under news coverage too. Though, authenticity of such news as a religious practice or criminal causes was never traced after trial from criminal courts.



It is for sure that such cases were not very prominent in this country. Else, we would have found hundreds of women getting burnt every day. Now, what reasons lied behind those occasional and rare burning cases are under legal investigation arena. The media, newspaper and political forces have always declared them as religious drawback of Hindus. Had that been a religious process, as we have separate Islamic law, criminal offense would not have got registered and trials and punishments would not have taken place. Unfortunately, far more brutal acts are committed in Islam in India, but no law or politics interferes. No media highlights the religious brutalities, if they do not belong to Hinduism. In fact, such acts are actually not religious, as we will see in below sections; they are very rare and pure effect of enmity and individual differences. But, under the influence of Long Leaders, media highlights the events as a part of Hindu beliefs. If these events are not very occasional, if we do not find such events taking place in scriptures of Hindus, we will have to establish the core concept of ‘Sati’ in Hinduism in relation to such sarcastic events.

TRUTH OF ‘SATI’ AND THE ‘PRATHA’
The word ‘Sati’ started as the name of daughter of Raja Daksha, and wife of Lord Shiva. The myth goes like this – Once ‘Sati’ went to attend a ceremonial occasion planned by her father, though uninvited. Unaware of the fact that the occasion was kept for humiliating Sati’s husband Lord Shiva, she went there against the will of her husband, convincing him that going to her parents was her rights. But when she found that her husband was getting abused, she became so angry that she jumped into the flame of burning fire, making her father the guilty of her death. Lord Shiva got angry and destroyed Raja Daksha. How is the above myth related to burning of widow – ‘Sati’ was not a widow when she jumped in the funeral. Thus, such burnings in the name of ‘Sati’ is not at all justified in any way as per Hindu myths. In fact, the myth has manifold message to be analyzed. First, it shows that a ‘Sati’ should not have gone against her husband’s wish, as respecting him, particularly against people who goes to humiliate him, binds her stronger to him. Secondly, she delivered the blood relation a justice, but on the contrary she did not tolerate her husband’s humiliation. At one instance, this does not convey anything meaningful for those highly literate groups who live with the impression that these myths are baseless. But then these learned people should understand that when they undergo modern education like Business Management, they are told stories and puzzles related to Ant and Elephant that looks quite childish at one go, but conveys good management theories, actually practiced in Business world. Hindu myths are at least not based on animals and insects; they are mostly based on humans, Gods, deities and include all creatures around them. The reason such metaphors are of higher standard is purely because it visions a highly cultured society togetherness. How can they be absurd?

In medieval India, during Mughal attacks, Kshatriya women used to commit ‘Jauhar’, something similar to ‘Sati’, out of pure fear of Molestation and Rapes committed by Muslims after victory. Now, if the current literates say that even ‘Jauhar’ was wrong and not the Muslim attitude of molestation, the story ends here. But if not, then ‘Jauhar’ and the ‘Sati Pratha’ hyped today are two different things, for sure.

In both the points above, one myth and another hard reality, a picture of women in Hindu society is revealed, which is overlooked and the focus stills on women getting burnt. Both the points clearly reflect that Hindus have been a society where women were of utmost respect and molestation was as big a criminal offense as murder for the women. Dignity of a woman in Hindu society is directly related to her support to one and only one husband – unlike all other religious cultures where a woman marries one after another depending on her adjustments she or the husband can make with each other. Among Hindus, one-man relation builds so deep a binding between the partners that if one departs it is often hard for the other to resist – particularly for the woman. Kings though used to marry more than one wives, for political reasons mostly in order to either expand the territory through building relationships or provide the territory with more descendants.

However, in modern times none of the above criteria exists. Thus, in one or two cases, woman by herself have committed suicide at the untimely death of her husband. It is to be understood that such seldom events are either termed suicides or murders by Indian law – law that is made hard for around 70% of the population of India comprising of Hindus.

The above understanding of ‘Sati’ is what is known about it, in both positive and negative aspect. But in Hinduism, ‘Sati’ and ‘Pratha’ have a total different understanding than the above knowing. ‘Pratha’ is any practice that is coming from forefathers and is adopted by upcoming generation as well for the known well-impact. ‘Sati’ actually is a very pure word in Hinduism; it represents the purest form of woman; the purity that has tremendous power. The word refers to the natural power of a woman which she develops by the virtue of her truthfulness towards her husband. This truthfulness relates to so many aspects of the women and just not physical relationship. One, her thinking do not go beyond her husband, for the reason she regards the Husband nearly as God. Second, she acts to make sure that her actions in no way cause any damage or insult to her husband in any manner. In case, the woman finds contradicting ideology, she discusses it out with her Husband and her suggestions are greeted, recognized and honored. This still happens in Hindu family, in most of the cases. Instead of understanding the natural realization of women power by Hindus, unnecessary and meaningless conclusions are made about its myth and related to criminal incidences.

THE INDIAN WOMEN
There are many controversial scriptures too available as highlighted by other religions going against the honor of women among Hindus. A scripture from Ramayan goes as:

‘Dhol Gawanr Shudra Pashu Nari, Sakal Tadan ke Adhikari’.

It is to be noted that simply pulling out the word woman (‘Nari’) and declaring that Tulsidas told women are ought to be beaten and scolded (‘Tadan ke Adhikari’) as per Hindu society, would be wrong as the sentence contains many other entities and the context too has to be clarified. We will analyze the whole sentence and try to understand what is meant out of it, in context of the situation in the scripture, and as explained by Hindu saints. The above lines are said by the Sea Deity ‘Samudra’ to Lord Rama. When Lord Rama got angry and took out weapon in order to evaporate the whole sea, the deity appeared and said above lines in context of boundaries that are created by God himself in order to hold his creations. Even sea resides in its boundaries and hence to go across it, Rama supervised the construction of famous Rama Setu Bandh the trace of which exists even today. The metaphors are used to convince the reader that matter or non-matter, ignorant or learned, animal or human, all need to understand the importance of boundaries of nature. The exact meaning of the sentences even out of the context goes as:

Let us understand the literary meaning of ‘Tadana’ first. The word is of abstract meaning and can mean many things. Directly it means scolding or commenting so as to keep the conscience intact. Indirectly, it is considered as a boundary of society or family that holds a member of the family or society within its meaning.

‘Dhol’ means drum – it needs to be beaten, but in boundaries of rhythm to produce beauty of music, otherwise it becomes harsh noise.
‘Gawanr’ means ‘Ignorant and illiterate’ – they need to be held in the observed boundary and controllable limits, or else they would create havoc out of means of livelihood.
‘Shudra’ means ‘Worker classes – they need to be guided so that they do not create mess of their work.
‘Pashu’ means animal – they need to be controlled. ‘Nari’ means ‘Woman’ – they need to be kept in the boundary of culture, as they are more important pillar of a house, society and nation than men.

Thus, the complete sentence means within context of the story, as Drum, Ignorant, Illiterates, Animals and Women are ought to respect boundaries, so the sea also has its boundaries in respect and powers should not be forced to destabilize those boundaries – this is what is told by the deity. I wonder, instead of focusing on the real fact about how miles long bridge was constructed in those days over the sea (the bridge now being proven through the images from NASA and carbon dating for its age), a technology not known to modern world, the critics diverts the focus with wrong meanings to defame Indian values.

‘Sati’, as the myth also relates to women whose thoughts are always positive, whose actions are not doubtful, who regards her husband more than God, and who is purest in her existence. Actually, writers of Hindu text had deep-routed thoughts behind such concept which was never understood at social level in modern world and occasional incidences as an opportunity to political and other religious practitioners were correlated with ‘Sati Pratha’.

Women had been of highest regards in Hindu society. And this was exactly what Swami Vivekanand told when he was asked to differentiate west and east on this ground; he said, ‘In west, every woman other than a mother is a wife. But in India, every woman other than a wife is a mother’. Let the world show one country other than India, one society other than Hindu society that has moral as high as this. Which society would give so high regard to women, when she is called as Goddess Laxmi of the house where she dwells? Women enjoy the position of a deity, in most of the Hindu houses. Correlating the whole culture to few occasional incidences, which are criminal acts, would be absolutely wrong, diverting and intentional towards defaming the highest value society of the world.

Women are the pillars of a house. If they divert towards un-homely acts, it is for sure that collapse of the family would result. Indians believe that naturally, women are created more powerful then men. Men are stronger, but women are more powerful (In Hindu society, women are called ‘Shakti Swaroop’, meaning Goddess of Power). Strength and power are two different aspects. Strength persists in body, while power is a mental attribute. Tolerance capacity of women far exceeds men and it requires mental power to bear stress. Men are weak towards women, and this adds immensely to women’s power.

Women ness in India is a great responsibility. Women are the prestige of any house. People in India become dangerously aggressive if some external man tries to disregard their sister, mother, wife or any relation that belongs to them.

Everything depends on the perception of people and this perception is directly created by education system and social culture in which an individual grows. Honor and respect are a part of such perceptions and self-respect is the highest form of it. It depends on our perception how we want to see towards ourselves. If a woman is sure to find herself as an honorable lady, she has to at all cost maintain her dignity in her actions first. She has to see herself as a respectable woman first. Respect is a boundary and cannot be achieved by breaking through the walls of social culture and natural distinctions. Thus, ‘Sati’ word in Hinduism is an exact replica of such perception where a lady’s self-respect is maintained at highest state.

Unfortunately, the western culture during and after invasion percolated deep, breaking through the Indian beliefs. Culture of self-respect by practice of holding values was abolished under the shroud of English education and western life-style. Perceptions are stronger in framing individuality. Women started believing in their so appearing freedom of existence and lost their self-dignity first by categorizing Indian values as old scraps. What now appears to modern women as a boundary of religious belief is actually an important cultural regard which they are parting from their identity. Indian women were ever free, they only understood additional meaning of her relations with family, before or after marriage, and practiced a very important attribute of life – ‘Adjustment’ which is not found in any destabilized family, society, or nation. And who can deny the depth of this concept. No entity in this world exists without realizing the meaning of Adjustment. Adjustment in simple terms means compromising with one interest in order to realize or let realize another. Thus, Indian women in categorizing Indian values as scrap first compromise in their Originality and adjust to adopt the beliefs of aliens. It is important to understand that I call these as beliefs because there is no laws governing these kinds of life styles and they are framed under perceptions. Indian women are ready to adjust with what has proven to be failure in western society, but not with the responsibilities which has ever proved to be the reason of stability of families in India.

Some people simply thinks that one talking about Indian values and concepts like ‘Sati’ and all are against literacy and relates to blind faith or old faith prevalent in ancient times. They believe the time has changed and accordingly people have to change and hence the adoption of western culture is in process. But there is serious mistake that is committed by such mentalities – they have not understood the fundamental of how cultures in a country develop. First, whether ancient or modern, climatic conditions vary between West and East, particularly Indian climate has a different mixture than the climate variance in western countries. Secondly, geographical conditions hugely vary among the nations. Third, availability of natural resources also varies. There are many more conditions under which cultures are shaped, but these three conditions are enough to understand that the living conditions of creatures are hugely dependent on them. Thus, while in India, we have enough sources of Gold and money was not a necessary criterion of existence, culture developed around knowledge. And hence, if the concept of ‘Sati’ has erupted in Hindu scriptures, it cannot be meaningless, old or scrap. After all, the country has seen families thriving unbroken for thousands of years on same concept, unlike the West where parting is a very common solution. Thus, neglecting with a conclusion that ‘Sati’ is an old word, is not a reasonable answer to criticize it.

In any country, cultural identity of women is her true value. Unfortunately, under the sheet of modern education, women in India no more understands the meaning of ‘Sati’ as she no more holds that power. The true meaning of independence is lost and what is realized is the independence to do all wrong acts. If a woman is asked to respect and regard her elders, it is considered as boundary and conservativeness. If a woman is found to be in complete faith with her husband, she is like a religious lady. What is practiced now in terms of independence is the ability of a woman to murder her values, her dignity, and her identity. For her, freedom now means the opportunity to commit acts that can satisfy her desires. She is now expected to move freely with men other than husband and commit all that suits her desires. The culture to shape correct desires is vanished. The culture to allow fulfillment of extravagant desires now dominates.

If she lives with the belief that her husband is God, the whole community lives with the feeling that every woman is the Goddess. She is the ‘Laxmi’ (Goddess of Wealth and Peace) of her house and her house progresses on her constructive behavior. And we all know respect and regards are not things of demand. Westerners agree to this proverb, but do not practice them at mass level. Hindu society does this with perfection. What regards and respect can be more perfect, complete and greater than the one rendered towards God? At one go, it seems to be men dominated society, but in reality is brings out women with equal domination and respect. It is not that there is no dispute among wife and husbands. But then disputes are meant to be settled by matured people. Diversities are meant to be united. Separation is never a solution. ‘Sati’ was a well proven and adopted preventions culture against Separation.

The law of nature says that which comes easy goes easily, without pain no gain, perseverance is the key to all success, tolerance and patience is the answer to toughest problems. ‘Sati’ is a concept that shapes a woman around such hard ways of making life fruitful. The nature of shaping women is going against this. The so called advancement shrinks the broadened idea of human being social and responsible creature. Advancement might impact our living standards, but it doesn’t impacts our life in any manner. Life is a separate entity and it has nothing to do with this technology advancement. We take birth, we grow and we die is a natural phenomena. Technology has nothing to do with this. Desire is a natural phenomena where a need is created towards satisfaction of some physical or and mental agitation. Fulfillment of desire without being in synch to natural laws, the laws of humanness, the law of women ness, would surely lead to short term pleasure but long term devastation. And this is what is seen in most of the families. Marriages break away so easily. And why not should it break? After all, the meaning of marriage is achieved much before marriage and what remains after marriage is simply a reiteration of formed mechanical behavior. Feeling dies out even before it is established. Faith dies out even before it could be realized. Love dies out even before it could be felt. Husband is no more a unique person, he is another person in contrast to someone in past – better or worse. He becomes comparative and there is not limit to this concept. Naturally, someone is always better than you. If you are the best athlete, you are not the best dancer. If you are the best singer technically, someone would sound sweeter than you. If you are the noblest one, someone is the most beautiful one. Actually, this difference exists in individual perception. Nature has actually created everyone same but every perception is different. So, if a song is the sweetest for me, may be agitating for other. A beautiful face for me may not be that charming for other. Thus, nature has the capacity to create these perception patterns distinctly in every creature. And this is what is balanced in a Hindu society with the concept of ‘Sati’. ‘Sati’ makes a woman live with the perception that her husband is the best and the only one for her. Is this perception wrong or right? Is she actually restricting her thoughts by thinking so? I believe no – the impact of such philosophy is tremendously constructive. She becomes positive in her behavior so strongly that she earns the power to win over Nature and God. Practicing this philosophy is not easy and it requires patience, tolerance, perseverance, love, truthfulness and faith to be in character which defines a woman. Isn’t it thrilling to even imagine that the whole Indian society constituted of such great women.

We need to understand what does a Hindu mean when he says that the Husband is God for a woman. We should not simply declare it absurd. I will try to dig into its rationality. While going through Bhagwad Geeta, I found a different description of God there. The chapter explains the meaning of God acquiring the non-material world. Some of the excerpts of Lord Krishna’s words are, “Of the radiant Sun, I am the luminaries, of the senses I am the mind and intelligence in living beings, I am the quality of best among the best existences. Of the bodies of water, I am the Ocean, of the mountains I am the Meru, of lordly elephants I am Airavata, of men the king. I am the beginning, I am the middle and I am the end. I am the divine attributes of all realizations; there is no end to the particulars of my manifestations.” No where does this tell about any physical shape of God. Hence, it is required to correlate such definitions of God to Hindu aspects. And I found the meaning of a husband God.

For centuries, Hindu societies have seen stable married relations. The stability is long lasting because roots are deeper. A Hindu relation doesn’t exist as a simple human interaction. Most of the worldly relation breaks due to unfaithful behavior executed by partners. Unable to hold upon the senses, partners go beyond relations to unfold more powerful thoughts and actions. And to give this social behavior a respectful place, other religious believers cover it with the color of gender equality. Unlike the concept of equality, a Hindu society realizes the importance of men and women to be different and as defined by nature. For a man, going beyond his wife for unlawful relations is considered as sin and the same for a woman. The sin is the boundary that binds a Hindu family. For a woman, she recognizing her husband as a God binds her to believe that whatever she has got is complete manliness and she is bound in her perceptions to learn practicing complete mental and physical satisfaction. A woman cannot stick to one person, unless she has the highest regard for him. And thus, for a Hindu woman, her husband is the most intelligence person; he is the Meru, the Airavata, the king. He is the beginning and the end. He is everything for her. The definition of God is realized in such regarded relation. And consequently the family persists in stable and satisfied conditions. A women respecting and practicing this concept is considered as a ‘Sati’. This no where means that she should not live if her husband dies? This no where means that she should be burnt with her husband? It is disgusting to understand that such unlawful instances are attached to the high morale of a Hindu.