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called Jauhar (instances of war when the men
are not expected to return). The reason for
this burning of women is to punish them for

not dying before their husbands. In the
case of Jauhar, innocent women are
cooked, cut in two and fed to the dogs.
Superstitious Hindu traditions also con-
tain explanations aimed at justifying this
horrible practice. For example, some
Hindu texts speak of “Jauhar” as being to
prevent the women from falling into the
hands of the enemy. 49
The Indian writer Sita Agarwal, whose
Nandalal Bose's painting sister was killed at a young age by the prac-
"A Woman Going to tice of drahoma, says in his book “Genocide of
Suttee”
Women in Hinduism” written in 1999, that the
practice of suttee is found in all Hindu texts, that it has been practiced by

the Brahmans throughout the centuries, and that it continues to be a
widely practiced tradition Some of the commandments in relation to
50
suttee found in the Manu, considered to be so-called Divine revelation,
are as follows:
Let these women, whose husbands are worthy and are living, enter the house
with ghee (applied) as corrylium (to their eyes) let these wives first step into
the pyre, tearless without any affliction and well adorned. 51
A sati who dies on the funeral pyre of her husband enjoys an eternal bliss in
heaven. 52

It is the highest duty of woman to immolate herself after her husband. 53
The suttee tradition that turns a good quality like loyalty to the hus-
band into a horrific act of barbarism has been responsible for the burn-

Islam And Far Eastern Religions