A wedding portrait of Mai Singh and Roop Kanwar A wedding portrait of Mai Singh and Roop Kanwar

crowds at the sati sthal: glorifying an atrocity crowds at the sati sthal: glorifying an atrocity

Inderjit BadhwarA corpse being burnt on a funeral pyre is a gruesome spectacle. Even the staunchest are often unable to bear the sight and turn away. But the hundreds of villagers of Deorala village in Rajasthan's Sikar district, barely three hours away from the state capital, who watched the sati - the burning of a live 18-year-old Roop Kanwar along with her husband's corpse - saw nothing horrific. They saw only - and will repeat this under the severest of oaths - a calm and smiling Roop Kanwar, sitting with her husband's head cradled in her lap, showering blessings and benedictions on the crowds while chanting the Gayatri mantra. And she did not lose this serenity even when the fire consumed her torso and flames enveloped her neck. Then she fell forward. The eyewitnesses, so far, produce no other testimony.They saw, perhaps, only what they wanted to see. But how much was really visible in the heat, smoke and dust of the moment is impossible to say because no objective observers were present. And the near maniacal frenzy that accompanies a sati makes rational observation difficult. Sword-wielding youth circumambulate the pyre, screaminguntil the cry is taken up by the throngs. The crowds beat loud warlike rhythms ondrums and blow on conch shells, while the pundits chantOnce the ceremony is over, the sacrificed woman is consecrated as a goddess and the funeral spot becomes a shrine. Henceforth no one can refer to her by her name. She is either "satiji" or "sati mata," immortalised for her "" and courage.According to preliminary official reports and accounts given by friends and relatives, Roop Kanwar's sati was voluntary. She had been married for seven months to Mal Singh, a B.Sc. student who lived with his family - his father is, surprisingly, a schoolteacher - in Deorala. The wedding took place with much pomp and splendour in Jaipur's Transport Nagar where her father runs a trucking business. Roop Kanwar was a matriculate and, on the surface, did not appear to be a conservative Rajput girl.Even her wedding picture shows her without the traditional, a gesture of modernity. But to the women who knew her in Deorala, she was devoutly religious. Says Bai Ram, a sanyasin in the village: "She did four hours ofevery day, especially that of the goddess Rani Sati. She read the Geeta and chanted from the Hanuman Chalisa. Her in-laws used to call her their Lakshmi."Roop Kanwar had been back but three days from a visit to her parents in Jaipur when Mal Singh took ill with stomach pains and vomiting on the night of September 2. The following day his parents, Roop Kanwar and his brother, Mangej Singh, took him to a hospital in Sikar. He appeared to get better, so the wife and mother returned to the village that night. But at 8 a.m. on September 4, Mal Singh died and about two hours later, his body arrived at Deorala.

According to Pooran Singh, a first cousin, Roop Kanwar was praying when her husband's corpse was laid beside her. "She showed no sign of sorrow. She continued praying and even asked me to take her sobbing mother-in-law into another room. Then she announced that she had decided that her soul would be united with her husband's," he said, adding that several relatives tried to dissuade her from her course but she simply told them that to oppose her would subject them to the risk of a sati shraap (a feared curse upon those who oppose a sati).





Mementoes of superimposed photographs of Roop Kanwar on the funeral pyre sold at Deoraia: brisk business Mementoes of superimposed photographs of Roop Kanwar on the funeral pyre sold at Deoraia: brisk business

The villagers say they have been blessed. But the reality is that a woman was burnt alive before cheering crowds.

Word quickly spread through the village that Roop Kanwar had decided to become a sati and several village elders and holy men went to test her to see whether she had the truewithin her. According to mythology not every woman can qualify as a sati and thecomes only rarely to chosen women. Convinced that thehad indeed come to her, the village elders, including her in-laws, gave Roop Kanwar their blessings. She then changed into her wedding finery and took a tour of the village with a coconut in hand and a funeral entourage in tow.Hundreds had already gathered at the Rajputa hundred yards away from her home. For 15 minutes, the villagers say, she circumambulated the pyre. Says Tej Singh Shekhawat: "We kept telling her that it was getting too late and the police might arrive but she signalled us to be patient. Then she climbed on to the pyre and her husband's head was laid in her lap." Mal Singh's younger brother Puspendra Singh, 15, lit the pyre. But the fire didn't catch. And according to the account of one villager, at this point Roop Kanwar fell off the pyre with her feet scorched and had to be helped back on it. Meanwhile, just about every household in the Rajput section off the village began to bring pails of ghee and douse the smoking wood until it burst into flames. By 1.30 p.m. it was all over - the second successful 'sati in the village after 70 years.The incident, with the massive social acceptance, even approbation, it has received, would probably not have attracted much national attention, were it not for the sustained opposition from women's groups in the state. Sati is illegal and those connected with it are liable for prosecution for murder under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code. On September 6, women activists tried to meet Chief Minister Harideo Joshi to demand prosecution but were turned down. In fact, Home Minister Gulab Singh Shekhawat even described the incident as a purely religious matter and directions were sent from the state capital that the police should maintain a hands-off posture and not interfere with any of the post-sati ceremonies.

Even though a head constable from the neighbouring Dhoi police station arrived at the scene an hour later and lodged an FIR himself - because he was unable to get any witnesses to do so - the first arrest in the case, that of Puspendra Singh, was made only on September 9. But for this, the state Government appeared paralysed between September 4 and September 16, the day of the chunari mahotsava when relatives - including Roop Kanwar's father, Bal Singh Rathor, who was told of the sati only after it was over - consecrated the pyre by pouring Ganga jal and milk and wrapping a Rs 4,000 chunari over a trishul planted at the spot. Nearly two lakh people from all over the country visited the sati sthal that day.



Two days earlier, hundreds of women had marched in protest in Jaipur demanding that the chunari mahotsava should not be allowed to take place. They even obtained a high court order directing the state Government to ensure that no public function or ceremony would be held at the place where sati had been committed as this would glorify the institution.





Roop Kanwar's father (left) and father-in-law (centre); Roop Kanwar's father (left) and father-in-law (centre);

But the situation had already gone out of hand. As one state official put it: "The thing to have done was to arrest all the guilty immediately after the fir was lodged and seal off the spot. Trying to stop the ceremonies later on would have meant a massive loss of lives." On the night of September 4, some 5,000 people from nearby villages had already gathered at Deorala. The crowds swelled to 50,000 within the next three days.

By the time the chunari ceremony was held, close to five lakh people had visited the spot - and donated about Rs 30 lakh to a newly-formed sati committee which was planning to erect a monument there. And among the teeming millions who visited the spot and sought the sati mata's blessings were some well known politicians, notably Janata Party leader, Kalyan Singh Kalvi; D.S. Shekhawat, joint secretary of the state's Congress committee; Hari Ram Khara, a BJP MLA: and Lok Dal MLA, R.P. Yadav.

The state Government decided to act decisively on the night of September 18, the eve of Union Minister of State P. Chidambaram's visit to Jaipur. It announced the transfer of District Magistrate K.M. Sahay and Superintendent of Police A.K. Saxena. During his day-long visit to Jaipur, Chidambaram met women's groups and assured them that the Government would not allow the building of any temple on the site.

People peer into the room she shared with Mai Singh; blind superstition People peer into the room she shared with Mai Singh; blind superstition

The Government first viewed sati as a religious matter and only acted two weeks later to arrest family members.



On the same day, the police arrested Sumer Singh, Roop Kanwar's father-in-law; Mangesh Singh, his brother: Bhupender Singh, 10, the deceased husband's brother: Bansi Dhar, the barber who shaved the family's heads before the ceremony, and Babu Lal, the priest, who performed the last rites. Bhupender Singh and his brother Puspendra have been remanded to juvenile homes.But even after the arrests, Deorala wears a festive look. Since the sati, commerce has boomed in and around the village. Sand dunes, which mark the entrance into this semi-arid habitation of some 15,000 people, are lined with shops selling sweetmeats, bangles and mementoes commemorating the sati.

The most popular is a superimposed colour photograph of Mal Singh with his head on the lap of Roop Kanwar for Rs 12. The original price was Rs 7 but it went as high as Rs 20 on the day of the chunari mahotsava when more than 30,000 reproductions were sold. And still, some 5,000 people continue to visit the sati sthal daily. The villagers believe they have been blessed.



Nearby, Roop Kanwar's house has become a museum. In the verandah hangs a huge wedding portrait of her and Mal Singh. In the room where she had reportedly decided to become a sati, lies the red and silver sari she wore before changing her clothes for the last time. On the floor a diya flickers day and night.

Jaipur women picketing against proposed chunari rnahotsav Jaipur women picketing against proposed chunari rnahotsav

Despite this, Deorala, peopled by Rajputs, Heers, Yadavs, Meenas and Nais is, by most standards, a progressive village. It has seven schools, a dispensary, a Sankrit vidyalaya, apanchayat samiti building and Rajput Sabha Bhawan. Its residents proudly circulate a pamphlet entitled(a sati does society proud) which says that sati is engrained in the Hindu religion as a manifestation ofand that the three most famous sati matas - Savitri, Anusuya, and Padmini - are worshipped all over the land. The pamphlet excoriates the Government for considering this "religious practice" a criminal offense.

And the residents bristle at any suggestion that Roop Kanwar may have been forcibly burnt. Says Tej Singh, a witness: "We do not burn brides for dowry. If a woman is forced or she tries to jump off the pyre then she is not considered a sati and no one will worship her.

Rajputs protesting government interference: divided opinion Rajputs protesting government interference: divided opinion

Women activists feel that some Rajput women are driven to sati because widows are treated as social outcastes.

After all she's from a well-educated family. Could this kind of woman have been forced? And there are hundreds of widows here whose husbands died even before there were pension schemes. Why were they not forced? She was a woman who believed her husband was a god and there could be no life for her without him. ""If she was dragged," says Banwar Kunwar, a widow present at the sati, "we would have protested. I often wonder why I didn't go with my husband 10 years ago. This is because she hadand I didn't. The call comes from God." When asked why no one stopped the sati on humanitarian grounds, the villagers say in a single voice that to try and stop a self-willed sati invites the horrors of a sati shraap under which entire families and villages are destroyed.

Roop Kanwar's real thoughts, her secrets, are burnt with her. All that remains is myth and superstition. Whether she was forced or went voluntarily, the stark and brutal reality is that a woman barely out of adolescence was burnt alive before cheering, applauding, frenzied crowds in 20th century India and has now become the basis of a highly profitable religious worship. And not for the first time. The state, indeed, sanctions sati. One of the biggest melas - and a state holiday - is the Rani Sati mela in Jhunjhunnu where even the Government puts up stalls. A smaller fair glorifying sati is held at Khandel in Jaipur district.

As Dr Hemlata Prabhu, principal of Canodia College, Jaipur, points out: "This is but one more form of glorifying crimes against women. It is not a religious issue. An entire village has benefited financially because of this act.

The curious and the faithful flock to Deorala by the bus-load The curious and the faithful flock to Deorala by the bus-load

The lesson we are teaching here is that you can economically upgrade a village by burning a woman." By and large, some Rajput women are driven to sati because life as a widow is difficult. The widow is branded a, an evil woman who has gobbled up her husband. She is not allowed to go out for years, wears only deep blue clothes and is the last member of a household to be fed.Says Pritam, a woman activist in the village: "A widow has to ask herself whether she should commit suicide as a sati on her husband's pyre or at a later date. It is not easy." Adds Dr Sadhna Jain: "Because the woman's entire personality is structured around her husband's identity, she believes there ca n be no life after his death. It is a terrible trauma. A widow who remarries is often considered a worse social outcaste than a woman who commits adultery." And in a recent survey where Pritam asked several women whether they would commit sati if given the same rights as men, the universal answer was no.

Rajput youths guard the pyre: deifying a woman Rajput youths guard the pyre: deifying a woman

In its most fundamental form, sati is but one more form of crimes against women. It is outright cruelty masquerading as religion. In not enforcing the law speedily in Deorala and letting the post-sati celebrations burgeon into a national festival, the Government has revealed yet again its pitiful inability to contain the forces of social fundamentalism. And there are ominous signs ahead.

The residents of the area are already talking about a sangharsh samiti that will fight the recently issued orders prohibiting the construction of a temple at the sati site. As in the case of the Muslim Women's Bill, this could become yet another obscurantist clarion call for political non-interference in religious personal law. The losers, once again, will be women. And the forces of progress.