Showcasing Sati

[Guest guest]

FRIDAY, JUNE 03, 2005: A Rajasthan Tourism guide recently released

by state tourism minister Usha Punia seeks to advertise the state to

tourists as "best known for sati matas". The guide exults

that "there is not a spot in the state where women had not committed

sati".

 

In unambiguous terms, this state government publication has

glorified an act that was declared a crime in 1829. This was

reinforced by the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987, passed

in the aftermath of the death of Roop Kanwar, a young widow, on the

funeral pyre of her husband, in Deorala, Rajasthan, which states

that "whoever does any act for the glorification of sati shall be

punishable with imprisonment and with fine".

 

Glorification includes, among other things, "the observance of any

ceremony in connection with the sati". The least the state

government can do now is to withdraw the publication. Some of these

sati mata temples may indeed have some historic significance, and a

few may be venerated by local people. As such, a closure of such

sites may be impractical, and could even backfire, even though there

is little evidence of scriptural sanction in the Indic traditions

for sati. But the state is legally, and morally, bound to ensure

that no social or political agency is allowed to endorse or exploit

sati as a sacred and admirable act. The record of the Rajasthan

government in handling such issues is deplorable.

 

Despite women's groups demanding an appeal against a recent special

court ruling that acquitted 11 persons charged with glorifying Roop

Kanwar's death as sati, Vasundhara Raje's administration has

maintained a stoic silence. Raje seems to fear that her political

base will not approve of action against the orthodoxy that seeks to

justify and glorify sati. It has been convincingly argued that sati,

in most cases, is forced upon widows for reasons linked to

inheritance and property rights.

 

On the pretext of elevating the status of a dead woman to that of a

goddess after committing sati, those who uphold the practice seek to

establish a social order in which the only good widow is a dead

widow. No government should directly or indirectly support such

politics and propaganda.

 

As for tourists, Rajasthan has heritage enough in the form of forts

and folklore.

 

SOURCE: The Times of India

URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1130773.cms