I am sure it is not called a funeral procession, but this is how the dead are honored... the corpse is carried through the streets, nearly a mile... decorated with thousands of fresh flowers and followed by friends and relatives. The body is then taken and burned to ashes. We came upon this procession on the airport road right here in Whitefield.
Sati is the practice through which widows are voluntarily or forcibly burned alive on their husband's funeral pyre. It was banned in 1829, but had to be banned again in 1956 after a resurgence. There was another revival of the practice in 1981 with another prevention ordinance passed in 1987 . The idea justifying sati is that women have worth only in relation to men. This illustrates women's lack of status as individuals in India . This still happens here, if you can imagine it. It is a small article in the India Times when it happens, very matter of fact, and always says "widow jumped into the pyre". No investigation, no charges, that's it! Wow.
No comments:
Post a Comment