sati

¹

or sa·tī, sut·tee

[ 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

When Sati's husband was slighted by her father, the Deva-rishi, Daksha, she cast herself on the sacrificial fire.

From Project Gutenberg

In the fourth dwelt the terrible serpent Sati-temui, which preyed on the dead who dwelt in the Duat.

From Project Gutenberg

This transit had been the bugbear of the journey ever since news reached us of the destruction of the Sati scow.

From Project Gutenberg

But when their wives came to commit sati by the stone figures the god Siva intervened and brought them to life again.

From Project Gutenberg

Next day the body of her husband was burned in the presence of several thousand spectators, who had assembled to see the sati.

From Project Gutenberg