Since time immemorial we have heard of bride burning . In Hindu mythology , the first encounter is that of Sita entering fire pyre in order to prove her chastity while Rama , her husband , looks on without any attempt to desist her from doing so.
In Mahabharat , we come across Madri performing Sati after death of her husband Pandu as she blamed herself for his death .
We have heard about
‘Jauhar ‘ . Whenever Rajput Kings used to go for fighting a war and winning seemed a distant dream , the womenfolk would jump into fire pyre dressed in wedding finery so as to protect themselves from Muslim invaders.
Even as recently as 125 years ago ,
‘Sati pratha ‘ was followed wherein wives used to immolate themselves by jumping into the pyre of their dead husbands , becoming a
Sati. More often the hapless wives were forced to become Sati . This was outlawed by British empire due to efforts of
Raja Rammohan Roy in 1829 . He was motivated by the experience of seeing his own sister-in-law being forced to commit
sati. He visited Calcutta cremation grounds to persuade widows against immolation and formed watch groups to do the same.
Following the outcry after the
sati of Roop Kanwar , the Indian Government enacted the
Rajasthan Sati Prevention Ordinance in 1987 .
The Prevention of Sati Act makes it
illegal to abet, glorify or attempt to commit Sati. Abetment of Sati, including coercing or forcing someone to commit Sati, can be punished by death sentence or life imprisonment, while glorifying Sati is punishable with 1–7 years in prison.
However, even today bride burning is not uncommon in India. Invariably this is a result of
greed of in laws who demand dowry . Often the culprits are females themselves – sisters and mothers in law who torture poor brides and burn them as brides’ family is unable to fulfill their demands. It is surprising that news of bride burning comes from affluent families and not from poor homes.
In Gita , Lord Krishna has said that there are three gates to hell - greed , lust and anger. Both greed and lust are insatiable. Leo Tolstoy had written a story ‘ How much land does a man need’. Truly he needs only three by six feet of land to be buried , but he often dreams of an empire.
For how long will our society suffer from this evil ? Is not it a time to change our attitude towards our better halves ? Should we not look upon them as human being and not as a commodity ? Let us spread a message in the society ,
‘ Burn your greed , not your brides ‘.
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