MURSHIDABAD, INDIA, 1760-80

Details

A WIDOW PERFORMS RITUAL IMMOLATION (SATI)
MURSHIDABAD, INDIA, 1760-80
Opaque pigments heightened with gold on paper, the widow seats on her husband's funeral pyre in the centre, watched by a crowd of people at either side, a river, carriages and buildings around, with black and blue borders
11.3/8 x 15¼in. (28.9 x 39.2cm.)

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Lot Essay

This practice of self-immolation of a widow on her husband's pyre takes its name from the consort of Shiva. Unable to bear the lack of respect her father had for her husband, she committed her body to the flames. She eventually reincarnated as Parvati, Shiva's second consort.
The ritual was regulated and brahmin widows for instance, were forbidden to immolate themselves. The Mughal emperors strongly enforced a ban on the practice, and the British administration later formally abolished it.

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