sati

¹

Or sa·tī,

[suh-tee, suht-ee]

noun

1. a Hindu practice whereby a widow immolates herself on the funeral pyre of her husband: now abolished by law.

2. a Hindu widow who so immolates herself.

Sati

²

Or Sa·tī

[suh-tee, suht-ee]

noun

Hindu Mythology.

1. the wife of Rudra, who immolated herself following a quarrel between her father and her husband.

Word History and Origins

Origin of sati¹

First recorded in 1780–90, sati is from the Sanskrit word satī good woman, woman devoted to her husband

Example Sentences

A teenaged widow was burned on her husband's funeral pyre under the Hindu practice of sati 37 years ago.

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After its glorification was made illegal, the group dropped sati from its name.

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But despite Kanwar’s deification, chances of justice for India’s last sati remain dim.

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Sati was first banned in 1829 by the British colonial rulers, but the practice had continued even after India’s independence in 1947.

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Kanwar is recognised as India’s last sati.

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