[133] However, Colucci and Lester state that none of the women reported by media to have committed sati had been given a psychiatric evaluation before their sati suicide and thus there is no objective data to ascertain if culture or mental illness was the primary driver behind their suicide. Although the myth of the goddess Sati is that of a wife who dies by her own volition on a fire, this is not a case of the practice of sati. François Bernier gave the following description: "At Lahor I saw a most beautiful young widow sacrificed, who could not, I think, have been more than twelve years of age. Enrica Garzilli states that the practice existed in the 1st century BCE amidst the Kathaka sect of the "black Yajurveda". Thus, acknowledging that performing sati only achieved an inferior otherworldy status than successful widowhood could achieve, sati became recommended when coupled with a dismissal of the effective possibility for a widow to remain truly chaste. Hence, the commentarial literature of the dharma tradition attests to a gradual shift from strict prohibition to complete endorsement in its attitude toward sahagamana.[174]. On 21 August 2006, Janakrani, a 40-year-old woman, burned to death on the funeral pyre of her husband Prem Narayan in Sagar district; Janakrani had not been forced or prompted by anybody to commit the act. The Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987 Part I, Section 2(c) defines sati as: The Prevention of Sati Act makes it illegal to support, glorify or attempt to commit sati. David Brick,[174] summarizing the historical evolution of scholarly debate on sati in medieval India, states: To summarize, one can loosely arrange Dharmasastic writings on sahagamana into three historical periods. According to available evidence and the existing reports of occurrences, the greatest incidence of sati in any region and period, in total numbers, occurred in Bengal and Bihar in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. [74] According to Reza Pirbhai, the memoirs of Jahangir suggest sati continued in his regime, was practiced by Hindus and Muslims, he was fascinated by the custom, and that those Kashmiri Muslim widows who practiced sati either immolated themselves or buried themselves alive with their dead husbands. Those older than two are customarily cremated. [166] This inscription suggests that sati was practised but not compulsory. [29] The early evidence suggests that widow-burning practice was seldom carried out in the general population. Lindsey Harlan probes deeper into the sativrata stage. [132] In the case of Roop Kanwar, Dinesh Bhugra states that there is a possibility that the suicides could be triggered by "a state of depersonalization as a result of severe bereavement", then adds that it is unlikely that Kanwar had mental illness and culture likely played a role. Napier replied: Be it so. [43] A Chinese pilgrim from the 15th century seems to attest the practice on islands called Ma-i-tung and Ma-i (possibly Belitung (outside Sumatra) and Northern Philippines, respectively). There are differing interpretations of one of the passages which reads: This passage and especially the last of these words has been interpreted in different ways, as can be seen from various English translations: Verse 7 itself, unlike verse 8, does not mention widowhood, but the meaning of the syllables yoni (literally "seat, abode") have been rendered as "go up into the dwelling" (by Wilson), as "step into the pyre" (by Kane), as "mount the womb" (by Jamison/Brereton)[180] and as "go up to where he lieth" (by Griffith). The majority of accounts describe the woman seated or lying down on the funeral pyre beside her dead husband. [53] This theory gains substance considering that the practice turned prevalent from 7th century onwards and declined to its elimination in 17th century to gain resurgence in Bengal in 18th century. [130] On 11 October 2008 a 75-year-old woman, Lalmati Verma, committed sati by jumping into her 80-year-old husband's funeral pyre at Checher in the Kasdol block of Chhattisgarh's Raipur district; Verma killed herself after mourners had left the cremation site. For other uses, see. When the husband died his wife is burned with him, if she be alive, if she will not, her head is shaven, and then is never any account made of her after. Opposition to the practice of sati by British Christian evangelists, such as William Carey, and Hindu reformers such as Ram Mohan Roy, ultimately led the British Governor-General of India Lord William Bentinck to enact the Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829, declaring the practice of burning or burying alive of Hindu widows to be punishable by the criminal courts. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. [96], In 1828 Lord William Bentinck came to power as Governor of India. According to Arvind Sharma, a professor of Comparative Religion specializing on Hinduism, the widow "rejected all this persuasion as well as the counsel of the Brahmans, and would neither speak nor hear of anything but the Fire". This theory has been challenged because it does not explain the spread of sati from Kashatriyas to Brahmins, and Brahmins were not considered to be of inferior caste status than Kshatriyas. [120] That prohibition from the 18th century may never have been actively enforced, or may have been ignored, since in 1843, the government in Sawunt Waree issued a new prohibition of sati. [79][80] The Dutch and the French banned it in Chinsurah and Pondichéry, their respective colonies. Hardly a man or woman exists in a corner of this populous town who hath not at least one slave child. 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