#INDIA FUNERAL PYRE PATCH#

Police say they consider the case a suicide because Charan ShahвЂ™s death lacked the elaborate ritual of a traditional sati, in which the widow dresses in her bridal finery and sings prayers and hymns before sacrificing herself. People from all over the district were flocking to offer prayers at the sati spot,вЂќ said police Inspector K.R. вЂњWe were compelled to take action, as a peculiar frenzy was building up. Police sent patrols to the village to discourage the worship.

#INDIA FUNERAL PYRE PATCH#

вЂњCharan Shah one day will be worshiped under a temple,вЂќ he added in hushed tones.ДЄfter word of Charan ShahвЂ™s self-immolation, hundreds of people came to the burned patch of ground to pray. вЂњShe was sitting still, as if in meditation,вЂќ said Gobind, a villager. The mourners watched mesmerized, then folded their hands in worship.

No one was close enough to stop her, but a shepherd on a nearby hillock saw her and shouted to the others. It was then that the widow, who had remained at home with the other women, walked to the cremation site in a dry field and knelt on the burning pyre, witnesses say. 13, witnesses say, about 25 mourners completed the cremation rites for Man Shah and walked a few hundred yards to a stream for a ritual wash. She jumped onto a ceremonial fire after an argument with her estranged father, who had insulted her husband.ДЄuthorities say Charan Shah had given no indication she would kill herself after her husband, Man Shah, died from the tuberculosis that had afflicted him for 30 years. In Hindu mythology, Sati was the wife of the god Shiva. WomenвЂ™s groups say no matter what it is called, the incident shows the desperation of widows in tradition-bound rural areas who often are shunned and degraded by their husbandsвЂ™ families. If the case had been ruled sati, every witness could be charged with culpable homicide. Police refuse to acknowledge it as sati, a practice that has been outlawed since 1829, and list it as a suicide. Weeks later, police still guard the spot where the 55-year-old widow committed ritual suicide, preventing her neighbors from worshiping at the site and erecting a temple in her honor.ДЇriends say Charan Shah committed вЂњsati,вЂќ a Hindu rite of self-sacrifice meant to ensure a smooth afterlife for her husband and herself and to bestow good fortune on her children and future generations. She knelt at the foot of his burning body, touched her forehead to the fiery embers and remained motionless until she was dead. Following an ancient Hindu rite, Charan Shah stepped onto her husbandвЂ™s funeral pyre.

India funeral pyre