Burning Women - A Global History of Widow-Sacrifice from Ancient Times to the Present

List of Tables and Maps viii List of Illustrations ix Abbreviations xi Introduction 1(22) Structure and Methodology Origins and Causes: Belief in the Hereafter and Inequality Institutional and Individual Following into Death Free Choice and Coercion Following into Death and Human Sacrifice PART I: FOLLOWING INTO DEATH OUTSIDE INDIA Egypt and the Ancient Near East 23(7) Egypt Sumer Europe 30(21) Preliminary Remarks The Archaeological Evidence The Written Sources America 51(25) Central America South America North America Africa 76(46) Individual Following into Death Institutional Following into Death The End Oceania 122(18) Non-ritualized Self-killings: Precursors of Following into Death? Ritualized Killings and Self-killings The End China 140(19) Humans as Burial Objects Widow-suicide Japan 159(7) Humans as Burial Objects Self-killing of the Vassals of Feudal Lords Central Asia 166(5) Archaeological Evidence The Middle Ages The Modern Age Southeast Asia 171(19) Head-hunting The Killing of Slaves The Relationship Between Head-hunting and the Killing of Slaves Other Forms of Following the Dead The End The Indian Influence in Southeast Asia: Java and Bali 190(27) Java Bali PART II: WIDOW BURNING IN INDIA Preliminary Remarks: Sources, Presentation and Terminology 211(6) The History of Widow Burning 217(31) The Early Period: Diodorus, the Mahabharata and the Rigveda The Spread of a Custom, 300 BC to 1500 AD Europeans as Observers, 1500--1800 Europeans as Participants, 1800--1829 Widow Burning after its Abolition in 1829 Anatomy of a Custom 248(80) The Accompanied and the Attendants: Between Institutional and Individual Following into Death The Time of Killing The Manner of Killing Aspects of This World Aspects of the Other World Free Choice and Coercion Problems of a Special Form: Jauhar Background and Origins 328(17) Position of Women and Widows Asceticism and Religious Suicide Gender-specific Heroism The Origins The Struggle Against Widow Burning: End Without an End 345(113) Early Indian Opponents The Islamic Conquerors The Individual Attitude of Europeans The Political Attitude of Europeans till the Middle of the Eighteenth Century The Contestations of a Colonial Power: Regulation to Abolition, 1757--1829 Effects of Abolition in British India Abolition in the Princely States, 1829--1862 Widow Burning under the Indian Penal Code, 1862--1987 Widow Burning: Object of Populist Politics and the Abolition of 1987 Summary and Conclusion 458(15) Appendix: Tables, Maps and Illustrations 473(39) Sources and Literature 512(6) Bibliography 518(63) Index 581