Bitter Historical Reality: Sati Pratha in Nepal

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Some histories are really worth to glorify and some are worth to forget. That are pros and cons of any nations and it remains in the history that the latecomers will learn about it.

Nepali society had followed the Sati Pratha in the history. For a long time, this evil deed of the society existed. It is a system of the society where a widow is placed on pyre of the demised husband and burnt alive along with the dead body of her husband. This system was existed in India and later spread in Nepal in the middle age. In the ancient period, it was not mandatory.

During the Malla reign, Sati custom flourished. At that time, Nepal was divided into various mini states. If a King died, his wife and maids would go to Sati. It was highly practiced during the reign of King Mahendra Malla, Bishwojit Malla, Bishwojit Malla, Parthivendra Malla, Nripendra Mall, Shree Niwas Malla and Yog Narendra Malla. It was so deeply rooted in the Royal families that even the great leader of Nepal unification process, King Prithvi Narayan Shah also could not stop this evil system of the society.

A scene of a widow being prepared for Sati in Jhola movie

One of the reasons why Sati pratha was flourished was the multi-marriage system. Polygamy was highly in practice in Nepal. One man or one king would have 4-5 wives. If a was 70, his youngest wife could be 25.  
A scene of Sati being burnt down


After visiting the United Kingdom, Junga Bahadur Rana promulgated the first civil code in Nepal. But that was not enough to abolinish this system. In 1829 December 5, Sati Pratha was banned in India completely and it was practiced in 1920 July 8 in Nepal by Chandra Smasher.  

Note: Jhola, a superhit Nepali movie was based on the historical evil of Sati system. The younger generation of Nepal could imagine the horror of the then period. Thanks to Chandra Samsher for abolinishing this evil trend of the society.  



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