![]() Finally, there were those who believed that she had been coerced into the practice of sati by her in-laws, that she had been opiated before the ritual, and that upon trying to flee the flames she was repeatedly pushed back into the fire.Īlthough it remains unconfirmed whether Kanwar was forced to immolate herself or if the 18-year-old willingly accepted her fate by burning, the controversy around her death prompted strong outcry from sati supporters and from anti-sati activists, and debates still rage over the cultural and legal implications raised by her death and the deaths of other widows like her. ![]() Kanwar's death was considered by many to be a miracle, a blessing upon the village and its inhabitants, and especially upon her in-laws, whose family would, according to legend, "be blessed for seven generations before and after." To many others, her death was seen as a tragedy born of a culture in which a woman's life had no meaning after the death of her husband. Some wished simply to pray to the blessed "sati." Despite official warnings against such a ceremony, the small village was crowded with devotees bent on witnessing the miraculous disappearance of the chunari, or bridal finery, into heaven, and the spontaneous reignition of the funeral pyre. "Sati mata ki jai" was the oft-repeated cry it is an invocation of the goddess, or "devi," that Kanwar was said to have become. Thirteen days later, at the traditional chunari ceremony, a crowd of at least 250,000 gathered at the site of her death to worship her as a goddess. On September 4, 1987, in the village of Deorala in Rajasthan, the 18-year-old Kanwar mounted Singh's funeral pyre and burned to death in its flames. During the time of their marriage, she lived primarily with her parents in Jaipur, reportedly spending a total of 20 days with Singh as his wife. Roop Kanwar had been married to her husband Maal Singh for eight months prior to his death from gastroenteritis. Born around 1969 (most sources cite her age upon death as 18) in the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan, India burned to death on her husband's funeral pyre on Septempassed India's tenth standard married Maal Singh in February of 1987 no children. Young Indian woman whose death incited national controversy over the religious tradition of sati.
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