I had written in an earlier post "What was lawful once might be unlawful now or vice versa as the cruel act of the wife stepping into the burning funeral pyre of her dead husband in the past. Can we then thank the British who by making it unlawful brought a stop to this insane act?"
I came across a piece related to this act written by P V Jagadisa Ayyar in his book "South Indian Customs", Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 1985.
"A husband by putting one of his two garlands on the neck of his would be wife bestows on her half of his spiritual force and she repeating the process in turn shares hers with him. The ancient Hindu custom of Sati had its origin perhaps from this. The husband when he dies waits for his wife in the next super physical world."
The next sentence that describes how she is prepared by her community to step into the fire is painful to read and visualize her state of mind and the moments that follow.
"Hence the ancient wise had discovered a plant the juice of which when mixed with sandal paste and smeared over the body made the body insensible to the burning sensation and the wife wakes to find herself in the company of her husband on the other side of death without having in the least felt the agonies of death in being burnt alive by having become a Sati."
I wonder?
"They then go together into the heaven world or Swarga to dwell there for some time and come back again to this world to continue the work of evolution. Thus, we see in the plan laid down by the wise men of old that two souls drawn together by love real and sincere do not part till both reach the level at the same time."
Another shocker came by way of watching the following movies "Namma Gramam" where women are slaves to their husbands, "Varnashramam" where people are slaves to the caste system, "Maharaj" where women take pride in serving the sexual wants and needs of gurus and "Shyam Singha Roy" where women who are designated to serve God are forced to satisfy the sexual needs of religious heads too.
When Agathiyar tells us not to hurt another soul and Ramalinga Adigal goes to the extent of weeping for the crops that wither in the heat of the day, how can we condone and justify these acts of human sacrifice and those of animal sacrifices in the name and under the cover of religion?
Man has instilled fear and manipulates people using the powerful tool - that of religion. I guess this is the reason Ramalinga Adigal and Bharathi opposed animal sacrifices and dumped caste and religion outright. When preachers interpret texts and ask that one retains the semen, Agathiyar tells us that it has to be discharged periodically. He advises married couples to continue to engage themselves in sex. Ramalinga Adigal too advocates the same in his "Urainadai Paguthi". Tirumular goes to explain in depth conception and the determination of the sex of the child.
These might come as a surprise and contradictory to common belief and practice and cause further confusion among followers and believers, but it is only from confusion that clarity arises. We need both opposites to know the other just as day and night, happiness and sadness, peace and war, etc. We pray that God gives us the sense and intellect (Arivu) to see through this world of Maya and act accordingly.