18. The Hindu Practice of Sati Derives From Sati’s Legend
Sati is a practice in which a widowed woman is expected to cast herself onto the funeral pyre of her deceased husband, thereby dying alongside him. She symbolically dies of grief, just like Sati in the legend. The practice probably derives from the story of Sati, Shiva’s previous wife. It is now outlawed, but there are still accounts of sati happening, particularly in more remote villages.
