masterchief_mirza
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Another Hindu female saved from sathi. Good job haider. Records from the capital of the Maratha fiefdom:Look at the deeds of haider ali which forced marathas to free madhugiri,
- The erection of the fort at Madhugiri is ascribed to a local chief named Raja Hire Gauda. The fort was greatly improved by Haidar Ali. Haidar Ali, after the conquest of Bednur, had kept the Rani of Bednur imprisoned in this fort until its capture by the Marathas in 1767 A.D.
"Among the ruling family of Pune, the wives of Balaji Vishwanath, Bajirao and Nanasaheb Peshwa long survived them. However, one finds Sati memorials to Annapurnabai, Chimaji Appa’s wife, and Ramabai, Madhavrao Peshwa’s wife. However, Sati was not restricted to a particular caste, and Wales describes an instance of a lady from the community of tailors committing Sati, in his account of the time he spent in India.
There are many narratives of Sati that describe the ritual. While Ramabai went to her death after distributing her wealth and ornaments to the people around her, the more common practice was to sedate the lady. Robert Mabon, an assistant to James Wales witnessed and sketched the act, and wrote in his book, Sketches Illustrative of Oriental Manners and Customs, that the lady had previously been given ganja. The funeral pyre was usually erected at the confluence of the Mula and Mutha rivers. The dead man’s body, after being bathed in the river, was placed on the pyre and the lady “ascended and laid down by it, embracing the corpse”.
The entire combustible pile was lit while the gathered assembly “applying their hands to their mouths, made a most lamentable noise; this with the shrieks of the woman were drowned by various music”.
James Wales, in his diary, mentions Sati being ‘performed’ at the ‘bridge of Poona’, presumably a reference to Lakdi Pul, which was often the site of cremation. He went there on an elephant to witness it from close quarters. The lady was a young girl, who after taking leave of her friends and relations, “pray’d for about one minute, mounted the pile and laid herself down (left side of) the body of her husband, his left hand was laid out in such a manner that it went below her neck and her right hand was laid over his neck. A man, said to be the nearest relation, set fire to the pile, and cut the cords that support’d the roof — so that in an instant all was on fire — and as soon consum’d to ashes…” "