Satidaha Pratha in Nineteenth Century Orissa:...

Satidaha Pratha in Nineteenth Century Orissa: A Bird’s Eye View

Author Name : Sujata Routray

ABSTRACT Sati,the widow burning or commonly known as the Satidaha Pratha was a socio-religious practice prevalent in the Indian society where a Hindu woman immolated herself in the funeral pyre of her departed husband. Though it was not widely prevailing earlier but with the passage of time many instances have been found in several parts of India and Orissa was no exception to it. It became one of the most terrible and inhuman practices that largely spread in royal families, aristocratic and high caste people in the eighteenth and Nineteenth century Orissa. With the sincere effort of the British Governor Generals, the pioneering work of the British missionaries and also the support of the social reformers, the system was abolished during the period of the Governor General William Bentick