How did the Muslim Travelers describe the Sati Practice in India

One of the very first videos I have uploaded on my youtube channel is with regards to the practice of Sati. In that video I explained logically how such a custom came into practice in India. Unfortunately, some people are just not able to grasp my explanation on how this was a voluntary practice limited to a very small part of the population. Every now and then I get an angry comment from people, often Muslims, attacking Hinduism and saying that Sati was always forced on women. In this article I am going to give you an account of two Muslim travelers on the practice of Sati in India.

The work I am referring to here is the 9 thcentury text Silsilat al-tawarikh, written by Sulaiman al-Tajir with additions from Abir Zaid ul Hasan, al-Sirafi. In this text Sulaiman Al-Tajir is giving a description of what happened when the king of Sarandib, i.e. Sri Lanka died. In the end of this description this is what he says:

“All the Indians bum their dead. Sarandib is the last of the islands dependent on India. Sometimes when the corpse of a king is burnt, his wives cast themselves upon the pile and bum with it; but it is for them to choose whether they will do so or not.”

As you can clearly see, he is clearly mentioning that this practice was voluntary. So, this is the reply to those who objected when I said that this practice was voluntary. Now that we have settled that this practice was voluntary let us understand why someone would voluntarily burn themselves on the funeral pyre. If you read this text further and go to the sections added by the next scholar Abir Zaid ul Hasan, al-Sirafi, then you will see that he mentions

“In the states of the Balhara, and in other provinces of India, one may see men bum themselves on a pile. This arises from the faith of the Indians in the metempsychosis, a faith which is rooted in their hearts, and about which they have not the slightest doubt.”

Clearly you can see that not just women but even men burn themselves and this they do because people believe in metempsychosis, which is the idea of reincarnation. He goes on further and says that

“When the king has eaten some of the rice, he gives it to his companions. Each in his turn approaches, takes a small quantity and eats it. All those who so eat the rice are obliged, when the king dies, or is slain, to bum themselves to the very last man on the very day of the king’s decease. This is a duty which admits of no delay, and not a vestige of these men ought to be left.”

As you can see that this practice of burning yourself on funeral pyre was not just limited to women, men also performed it when their king died. This was most probably carried out in spirit of reverence towards one’s king. Then he continues

“When a person, either woman or man, becomes old, and the senses are enfeebled, he begs some one of his family to throw him into the fire, or to drown him in the water; so firmly are the Indians persuaded that they shall return to (life upon) the earth. In India they bum the dead.”

Clearly again the burning is carried out by both men and women and is being carried out so that a person can avoid the misery of this life and go to next life. This is exactly the reason I pointed out in my previous video on Sati that the widows climbed the funeral pyre voluntarily because they believed in the next life and did so for a better next life. All these people who came about shouting on my previous video and saying that this was forced on the widows probably do not believe in rebirth. Due to this they are unable to think from the mindset of the Hindus.

So, to summarize, based on the direct historical account of these Muslim scholars, the practice of Sati was carried out voluntarily by the wives and other admirers of the King and they did it voluntarily because they believed in reincarnation and hoped for a better next life by performing this act. Actually this idea of self-immolation is not just limited to Hindus, but is also practiced by Budhhists, as can be seen by the mentions in Jataka Tales.

Before ending this article, it is my request to all of you that before judging the behavior of the people from a different time period, please try to understand the circumstances of that time also.

Originally published at https://stoicsadhu.com on June 8, 2020.