TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2004//
TI  - "Eternal flames": Suicide, sinfulness and insanity in "western" constructions of sati, 1500-1830
JO  - International Journal of Asian Studies
A1  - Major, A.
SP  - 247
EP  - 276
VL  - 1
IS  - 2
N2  - In the wake of the immolation of Roop Kanwar in Deorala, Rajasthan, in 1987, sati has re-emerged as a controversial political and social issue in modern India. Many of the terms of the contemporary debate on sati have their roots in the colonial period and are based on assumptions and ideas formulated during the British debate on sati in the early nineteenth century. These ideas were often as much the product of changing British society and its preoccupations as they were the encounter with India, however. This article explores the connotations of changing attitudes to suicide in influencing the nature of British responses to sati. By examining the relationship between attitudes to suicide and changing depictions of sati between 1500-1830, it seeks to undermine the suggestion of a constant western "morality" with regard to sati, depicting instead an encounter with the rite that was bi-directional and fluid with the dichotomy between "East" and "West" cross-cut by a myriad of other issues and concerns. © 2004, Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1479-5914
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1479591404000233
ID  - ref1
ER  -