Dowry Deaths, Bride Burning

Background: The Sati Practice

The word sati, or suttee, as Westerners have often spelled it, describes an ancient ritual according to which a Hindu wife follows her husband to his death by ascending his cremation pyre with him or ascending one of her own shortly afterward; it also refers to a woman cremated in this way. The customary rite involved the cocremation of the living wife with the dead husband. The practice was traditionally based upon a belief in the karma principle (implying fatalism and predestination) of Hindu marriage, which as a sacrament demands that a widow kill herself so that her soul may join that of her deceased husband. It was also based upon the dharma principle, implying duty and sacrifice on the part of the wife. However, a husband usually accepts the death of his wife with indifference, as if his own soul did not have to join that of his late wife. This double standard reflects an aspect of the male domination and control exercised by Hindu husbands. The woman who became sati was generally hailed and accorded a heroic status by the community, as not every widow was provided the opportunity to become sati. A husband who had multiple wives might have stated in a will his choice of his favorite wife to be the sati. Although the sati practice was not usually based on dowry considerations, it has been suggested that women may have been burnt alive because of possible disputes over dowry.

Dowry-Related Burning

The practice of dowry in India involves giving of gifts by a bride's family during the marriage to the son-in-law and his family, either in cash or in kind. Dowry is generally displayed socially, although it may sometimes be given in secrecy. The gift giving continues on different occasions through the first few years of marriage. The practice may have been present in Indian society for a long time, though now it seems to have developed into a form of commerce in many arranged marriages in India. Many married women have been reported to be emotionally abused, physically tortured, murdered, or driven to commit suicide because of persistent demands for dowry. About 5,000 deaths a year were reported by the government in the 1980s and 1990s. Many of these reports suggest that husbands (and their families) often blame the burnt victims for having committed suicide or been involved in accidental deaths (for example, while cooking). Women who survive the fire are too afraid to come forward to tell their full stories. This form of violence is likely to be far more serious than what government and the media actually report. However, systematic research on the topic hardly exists.

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