The preamble of “Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987” (Sati Act) mentions “Whereas sati or the burning or burying alive of widows or women is revolting to the feelings of human nature and nowhere enjoined by any of the religions of India as an imperative duty;” The question of performance of Sati (burning or burying alive of widows or women) in the present sphere as an imperative duty is debatable and not at all our subject, however the worship of Kuldevi in the form of Satimata is definitely an imperative duty of each Hindu, who has been traditionally worshipping and revering their Kuldevi in the form of Satimata since time immemorial, and is the objective of our issue.

The country’s leadership, instead of personal observation, experience and scientific inquiry, relied on hearsay, western textual influences, codified body of literature all that had been modified, plagiarised and embellished and above all on the genesis of preconceived ideas and assumptions whilst imposing the Sati Act.

The present piece of Sati Act legislation is a law influenced and indoctrinated by those opposed to the rich ancient Indian religion, culture and tradition. The western zealots for superior positioning of their religion and defense of their own cultures and religions have prejudiced the Indian Leadership into settling onto the Sati Act as the pall bearer of the Indian traditions, customs and culture. The worship of age old Kuldevi in the form of Satimata has been an inherent custom and tradition in practice since time immemorial.

India is one of the most religiously diverse nations in the world, with some of the most deeply religious societies and cultures. Religion plays a central and definitive role in the life of most of its people. 80% of its populace practice and follow Hinduism as their religion.

Hinduism: Hinduism is formed of diverse traditions. Hinduism does not have a "unified system of belief encoded in declaration of faith or a creed", but is rather an umbrella term comprising the plurality of religious phenomena originating and based on the Vedic traditions. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, stated “Hinduism is not just a faith, but in itself is related to the union of reason and intuition”. Radhakrishnan had explicitly stated that “Hinduism cannot be defined, but is only to be experienced. Hinduism refers to a religious mainstream, which evolved organically, and spread over a large territory marked by significant ethnic and cultural diversity”. This mainstream evolved both by innovation from within, and by assimilation of external traditions or cults into the Hindu fold. The result is an enormous variety of religious traditions, ranging from innumerable small, unsophisticated cults to major religious movements with millions of adherents spread over entire India and beyond. Hinduism grants absolute and complete freedom of belief and worship. Hinduism conceives the whole world as a single family that deifies the one truth, and therefore it accepts all forms of beliefs and dismisses labels of distinct religions which would imply a division of identity. Hence, Hinduism is devoid of the concepts of apostasy, heresy and blasphemy. Prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include (but are not restricted to), Dharma (ethics/duties), Samsara (The continuing cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth), Karma (action and subsequent reaction), Moksha (liberation from samsara), and the various Yogas (paths or practices). Hinduism is a diverse system of thought with beliefs spanning monotheism (one god), polytheism (multiple deities), pantheism (nature & god are identical), monism (ineffable divine ground of all being), atheism (non-belief in god), agnosticism (independent) among others; and its concept of God is complex and depends upon each particular tradition and philosophy. It is referred to as henotheistic (i.e., involving devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of others).

Hindus believe everything is god and contains the divine energy of god so everything is worthy of worship be it the Murti, an icon or nature itself, the Puja (Hinduism) of the Murti is like a way to communicate with the abstract one god which creates, sustains and dissolves creation.

Hindutva means the ethos, the culture, the tradition, the custom, the gene, the blood which runs in the veins of all of us together.

The Hindu scriptures refer to celestial entities called Devata (or Devi in feminine form; Devata used synonymously for Deva in Hindi), "the shining ones", which may be translated into English as "gods" or "heavenly beings". The Devta are an integral part of Hindu culture and are depicted in art, architecture and through icons. They are, however, distinguished from Ishwar, a supreme personal god, with many Hindus worshiping Ishwar in one of its particular manifestations (ostensibly separate deities) as their Ishta Devata (Kul Devi), or the chosen ideal. The choice is a matter of individual preference, and of regional and community and family traditions.

Hindu practices generally involve seeking awareness of God and sometimes also seeking blessings from Devta. Therefore, Hinduism has numerous practices meant to help one think of divinity in the midst of everyday life. Hindus engage in puja (worship or veneration), either at home or at a temple. Hindus perform their worship through icons (murtis). The icon serves as a tangible link between the worshiper and God. The image is often considered a manifestation of God, since God is immanent. The Padma Purana states that the murti is not to be thought of as mere stone or wood but as a manifest form of the Divinity.

Therefore broadly Hinduism is:

Plurality of religious phenomena originating and based on the Vedic traditions;
Hinduism cannot be defined, but is only to be experienced;
An enormous variety of religious traditions, ranging from innumerable small, unsophisticated cults to major religious movements with millions of adherents
A diverse system of thought with beliefs spanning monotheism, polytheism, panentheism, pantheism, monism, atheism, agnosticism, gnosticism among others; and its concept of God is complex and depends upon each particular tradition and philosophy. It is referred to as henotheistic (i.e., involving devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of others).
A supreme personal god and separate deities as Ishta Devta which includes the Kul Devi;

Therefore, worship of the Kul Devi is purely an integral and accepted form of practise of Hinduism.

Sati is not a woman, she is worshiped as a goddess, a deified eternal wife. According to belief, the pyre ignites solely by the power of the Sati, that is, by the inner heat of sat, the force of virtue at her core. Fire is thus not so much the cause of her death but the essence of her being. There are three stages in the life of the Sati: as a married woman, she is the devoted wife (pativrata); when she takes a vow to become a Sati, she is termed a Sativrata; when she ends her life in spontaneous combustion, she has become a "Sati-Mother" (Satimata). Such women are worshiped as liminal beings, living on the cusp of the human and divine realms.

These women “Sati” are revered as Kul Devi and worshiped accordingly since ages.

Sati and Sati Puja are part and parcel of Hinduism, kindly refer to the following: -

* The Garudapurana favorably mentions the immolation of a widow on the funeral pyre, and states that women of all castes, must perform Sati. If women do not perform sati, then they will be reborn into the lowly body of a woman again and again till they perform Sati;

* A sati who dies on the funeral pyre of her husband enjoys an eternal bliss in heaven;

* According to Vasishta's Padma-Purana, a woman must, on the death of her husband, allow herself to be burnt alive on the same funeral pyre;

* Yajnavalkya, the most important law-giver after Manu, states that sati is the only way for a chaste widow;

* The Yogini Tantra enjoins upon Brahmana widows to burn themselves on the funeral pyre of their husbands. Vaisya and Sudra widows were also allowed to do it;

* Vishnu Smirti.XXV.14: "If a woman's husband dies, let her lead a life of chastity, or else mount his pyre"

* Brahma Purana.80.75: "It is the highest duty of the woman to immolate herself after her husband ",

* Brahma Purana.80.76, 80.77: "She [the sati] lives with her husband in heaven for as many years as there are pores in the human body, i.e. for 35 million years."

* Vishnu Dharmasutra XXV.14 : " On her husband's death, the widow should observe celibacy or should ascend the funeral pyre after him."

These references show that Sati is deeply enshrined in Hinduism as a virtuous act right from the Vedic age. It is hence an inherent part of Hinduism and is not due to any `Puranic corruption', but has been in existence since the `wonderful Golden Vedic Age'.

If we are to accept the argument of practice and not of scriptures: -

Some of the Notable (well known) Sati:

Tulsi: According to Hindu scriptures, the Tulsi plant was a woman named Vrinda (Brinda), a synonym of Tulsi. She was married to the demon-king Jalandhar. Due to her piety and devotion to Vishnu, her husband became invincible. Even god Shiva, the destroyer in the Hindu Trinity could not defeat Jalandhar. So Shiva requested Vishnu - the preserver in the Trinity - to find a solution. Vishnu disguised himself as Jalandhar and violated Vrinda. Her chastity destroyed, Jalandhar was killed by Shiva. Vrinda cursed Vishnu to become black in colour and he would be separated from his wife. Vrinda then burnt herself on her husband's funeral pyre alongwith her husband’s body. Vishnu transferred her soul to a plant, henceforth which was called as Tulsi. Thus, Tulsi committed Sati.

Sulochana was the daughter of the King of the Serpents Shesha Naga. She was married to Indrajit (Meghanath) who was the son of Ravana. Sulochana was very brave and exhibited this virtue when the Indrajit, her husband was going in war with Ram, she supported her husband by not crying and never stopped him from going. After the death of Indrajit, Sulochana committed Sati with her husband's funeral pyre.

Gandhari committed Sati by way of entering the leaf cottage where Dhritrashtra was burning and burnt in the flames alongwith Dhritrashtra.

Madri committed Sati after the death of Pandu by burning in the flames alongwith Pandu.

Rohini, a wife of Vasudev (Krishna’s father) committed sati;

Rukmini, Rohini, Devaki, Bhadraa and Madura all wives of Krishna committed Sati;

Maharani Mahtab Devi Sahiba, the Princess of Kangra, daughter of Maharaja Sansar Chand, the Empress of Punjab, committed Sati with Maharaja Ranjit Singh's body as Ranjit's head lay in her lap, some of the other wives also joined her and committed Sati;

Putalabai, one of the maharani of Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj committed Sati;

There are scores of instances of Sati in South India region of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, they are referred to as Veeramasati, Sathee, Nadukkal, Veerakkal, Seelakari amman, Thee Paanch Amman. The records of the erstwhile kingdoms of Vijayanagar & Mysore speak of the performance of Sati in these regions prevalent at that time.

The oldest-known historical instance recorded by Greek Observers of Sati was that by the youngest wife of Keteus, a Hindu general who died in the battle between Antigonos and Eumenes, immolated herself on her husband’s funeral pyre, in 316 BC.

I believe no prudent person would question the age old tradition and its link with innumerable followers of the faith and belief. The practise and belief into the worship of the Kul Devi in the form of Sati has to be looked into with greater zeal by the law makers before concluding any imposition of law to ban the same. The practise is forbearing on the future of culture, ethnicity, tradition and belief in Hinduism. The Sati Act was enacted hurriedly after the Roopkanwar of Deorala fame. The definition of Sati as defined in the Sati Act states that the burning or burying alive of any widow along with the body of her deceased husband or any other relative or with any article, object or thing associated with the husband or such relative; or any woman along with the body of any of her relatives, irrespective of whether such burning or burying is claimed to be voluntary on the part of the widow or the women or other-wise is to be referred for the purpose of the Sati Act and not otherwise, the act is silent about the events culminating to the age old Sati, and the three phases of the woman who is a Sati as mentioned above has been completely ignored;

We as the citizens of the country called India were sometime in the year 1987-88 (when the Sati Act was proclaimed) made to forget, the vision "where the mind is without fear and the head is held high". Justice, Liberty, Equality & Fraternity - the hallmarks of a living democracy - are elusive ideals unless our community get our due.

Hans Oberdiek writes, "As long as no one is harmed or no one's fundamental rights are violated, the state should keep hands off, tolerating what those controlling the state find disgusting, deplorable or even debased”.

The invocation of the Sati Act, upon the various Sati Temples, wherein the Sati in the form of Kul Devi are worshipped, from retrospective effect, has caused sentimental, religious and cultural loss to innumerable citizens of India who diligently without any ill feeling for any woman follow the interminable heritage endowed since centuries by their ancestors for the values of the brave, chaste, pious and peerless woman. Imposition of law in detriment to the doctrine of principles of natural justice causes irreparable loss to the cultural heritage, religious belief and historical events culminating to the present day India.

The worship of Sati in the form of Kul Devi at the Sati Temples have been there for centuries, in remembrance of the valour, chastity, piousness, righteousness, peerless women. The woman are the looked upon as Kuldevis and blessings are taken from the “Hallowed Supernatural”. They have become pilgrimages for the followers of the belief and faith in the chastity of that woman and not for upholding of widow burning. The Sati Temples have their followers performing the Mundan Ceremony of their new born (a Hindu rite, or sanskara, in which a child receives his/her first hair cut. It is performed as a special ceremony), before marriage the followers take the blessings and after marriage and every time on many occasions according to the rites and ceremonies being practiced since time immemorial are performed in practice of the liberty provided for under the Constitution of India.

At this stage I would also like to put forward the position and arguments as enjoyed by the Citizens of India under the Constitution as well as in the Modern Civil Society:

The Constitution of India: -

Preamble

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

I say, our Liberty is being prohibited by the state, we the followers of centuries old temples are not allowed to follow the belief, faith and worship.

Worshipping of Kuldevis in the form of Sati has been in existence since untold era, none of the scriptures have decried Sati and its reverence.

The Sati temples and reverence of Sati alone do not and cannot mean the glorification of the “Sati” as defined in the said Act.

If the conscience of a particular community has treated a particular practice as an integral or essential part of religion, the same is protected by Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution of India.

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

I say our Equality is being compromised by the state. Equality before law is fundamental to our existence.

Right to Equality

Prohibition of discrimination on grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth.

(1) The State shall not discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.

We bring light to the section 309 of the IPC that says “Whoever attempts to commit suicide and does any act towards the commission of such offence, shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine, or with both”, in this sphere “Santhara” committed by the Jain community is not considered as illegal since it is permitted as a religious ritual of voluntary death.

As mentioned in the Sati Act, Sati committed before the act coming into the force is also within the purview of the act irrespective of the fact that these incidents had taken place centuries ago and that too without any outlook towards the culmination of the Sati. Ipso facto it tantamount that with the promulgation of “The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006”, notified on 10 January 2007, all child marriages solemnised before the act coming into force irrespective of the age of the child as on the date of the act coming into force, should stand null and void. That is to say that the marriage of those couples who had married fifty years back but when the marriage was solemnised they were below the age that permits marriage to be solemnised, as per the present Act, should be declared invalid in the eye of law and all persons supporting such relationship to continue should face prosecution. If this is not done then the law is against the fundamental right of “equality to all”. When Kamala Kaul married Jawaharlal Nehru, she was barely 16 (sixteen) years old, therefore according to the Child Marriage Act of 2006 the marriage is invalid in the eye of law, and the results would have far reaching consequence, similarly those people who married a child or were themselves a child should be removed from the History of India, we would not like to take any names, but the list shall be very long, as it has been with the application of the prevalent Sati Act. It is akin to glorification of Child Marriage.

Similarly, we refer to the famous Shah Bano case, the Hon’ble Supreme Court had ruled in her favour on the basis of Section 125 of Code of Criminal Procedure, but Muslims felt threatened by what was perceived as an encroachment of the Muslim Personal Law (Sharia), and upon their protest against the same, the government passed the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 which, in reality, denied even utterly destitute Muslim divorcees the right to alimony from their former husbands. In this case the tradition, custom and culture of the Muslims prevailed against the public order, morality and health of an Indian woman.

Jarnail Singh Bhinderwale is termed as an armed militant equated with terrorists, and was killed during the Operation Blue Star by the Indian Army, who entered the Golden Temple and its precincts to remove all militants, who under the leadership of Jarnail Singh Bhinderwale had gone into hiding thereat. The same terrorist has been accorded the status of the “great martyr” of the Sikh community by the Akal Takth. Here, the dictate of the religion is over and above the probity of the moral and public order discourse of the Indian Constitution.

In our matter we are only demanding our right to worship of our Kuldevi in the form of Sati as the part and parcel of our culture and tradition and not anything that in any manner degrades the public order, morality and health of an Indian citizen.

We also refer to the famous or rather infamous "the Calcutta Quran Petition" filed before Her Lordship Sm. Padma Khastgir at the Calcutta High Court. The contents and issues are in the public domain and, since not apt, need not be reproduced here. The petition & the review petition were stuck down, since it was concerning the faith, belief and sentiment of the particular adherents, even though the petition was firmly ingrained to the tenet "subject to public order, moral and health" of our constitution.

Right to Freedom of Religion

Freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and propagation of religion.

I say that for centuries we have been professing and worshipping our Kuldevi, but all of a sudden in the year 1988 a law is enacted that prohibits me from worshipping the goddess that I have been worshipping since birth and my family since ages and all of us have immense faith. Religion is all about faith, it cannot alter overnight. Therefore how can the state impose a law that prohibits me from worshipping and performing the rituals? Is this freedom of religion?

The term 'religion' has been judicially considered in the Commissioner of Hindu Religious Endowments, Madras v. Sri Lakshmindra Thirtha Swamiyar of Sri Shriur Mutt [1954] SCR 1005 and the following propositions of law laid down therein have been consistently followed in later cases including The Durgah Committee,  Ajmer and  Another v. Syed Hussain Ali & Others [1962] 1 SCR 383 @ 410-11 :

Religion means "a system of beliefs or doctrines which are regarded by those who profess that religion as conducive to their spiritual well being";

A religion is not merely an opinion, doctrine or belief. It has its outward expression in acts as well; Religion need not be theistic;

"Religious denomination" means a religious sect or body having a common faith and organisation and designated by a distinctive name;

We take leave to cite the objects of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board: -

To adopt suitable strategies for protection and continued applicability of “Muslim Personal Law” i.e. Shariat Application Act in India.
To strive for annulment or exempting the Muslims from the ambit of such direct, indirect or parallel legislation, whether already enacted or in the process of enactment or to be enacted in future, or rulings and judgements of the courts of law interfering in the application of Muslim Personal Law.
Specific attention is drawn towards the object b. it provides for the protection of the custom, culture, tradition and practise as is being followed by all the Muslim Citizens of our country, here the Personal Law is over and above any legislation and/or rulings by any court of law. No interference shall be permitted. Therefore, is it not unequal treatment being meted out to these who worship their Kul Devi since ages, is it not interference in the personal law of these citizens of our country.

The ambassadors of conventional morality preach that Sati Puja is immoral, however the same morality is absent in the matters related to other MORALISTIC values, drawing attention to the Arthashastra, it advocates an unsentimental recipe of "Sama, Dama, Danda & Bheda. Similarly we discuss the approach of the most lovable gods in the Hindu pantheon, Krishna, had pursued immorality in the great epic 'Mahabharata'. i) the timing of breaking of the news to Karna about his parentage and the vow from Karna to Kunti that 5 of her sons would always remain alive. ii) Drona was killed by the deceit lie uttered by Yudhishtira that Ashwathama has died, which in fact the elephant named Ashwathama had been killed and Drona was made to believe that his son Ashwathama has been killed. iii) the wheel of Karna's chariot had sunk into the ground, to lift it up he got down from the chariot, it was against the rules of the war to attack a man when he was unarmed, Arjuna was to respect this code of conduct, but Krishna forced Arjun to severe Karna's head. iv) Jayadratha, had killed Abhimanyu, Arjuna had sworn either he would kill Jayadratha before sunset the next day or immolate himself. Jayadratha emerged on the battle field only after he was sure that the sun had set. But as soon Jayadratha emerged, Krishna's divine manipulation made sure that the sun peeped out of the darkness, enabling Arjuna to kill Jayadratha. v) Duryodhana had a blessing from Gandhari that whichever portion of his body had been seen by her, after removing the band she had been wearing since her engagement, no harm shall happen to those parts of the body of Duryodhana, the only vulnerable part remained the thigh joint to the upper torso, that also for the manipulation of Krishna, and again against the rules of war were broken at the insistence of Krishna by Bhim, hitting below the navel, Bhim uprooted Duryodhana's thigh from his torso. The great war for 'Dharma' was won by the Pandavas in the most 'Adharma' manner, all at the foul insistence of Krishna. In the context we can admit all arguments but not of the MORALLITY. Ban on Sati Puja cannot be the moral foundation stone of the belief "means are as important as the end". Morality as a whole has to be dissected and all moral codes without any ambiguity debated and finalized in public arena, no piece meal order of morality is acceptable at all.

Fundamental Duties

51A. Fundamental duties.—It shall be the duty of every citizen of India—

(c) to uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India;

(e) to promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the people of India transcending religious, linguistic and regional or sectional diversities; to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women;

(f) to value and preserve the rich heritage of our composite culture;

Application of Article 29 of the Constitution of India:

It says ” Any section of the citizens residing in the territory of India or any part thereof having a distinct language, script or culture of its own shall have the right to conserve the same.”

We are the citizens of the Union of India and reside all over the country, as such, there can be no bar lawful bar upon our culture of worshipping of our Kuldevi in the form of Sati.

We say that, with the promulgation of the Sati Act in 1987, and no consideration having been given to the faith of innumerable, how can the constitution expect unity and integrity from these citizens? Likewise, how would these actions of the state induce the citizens to promote harmony and spirit of common brotherhood?

The founding fathers of the Constitution of India were too sure that the monolith structure of our ancient culture will be fit to support the multifaceted edifice, i.e. the REPUBLIC called INDIA.  Liberty of thought, expression, faith and worship is supposed to widen the spiritual and intellectual horizons of the human personality. The country needs to realize that our over-ripe culture is in advanced state of decay in the absence of far sightedness of the law makers.

Arguments against the stand of the Modern Civil Society: -

Shiva is worshipped in the form of Lingam, considered a symbol of male creative energy or of the phallus, similarly “Yoni” is the Sanskrit word for female genitalia, the yoni is considered an abstract representation of Shakti and Devi. The Lingam is placed in the Yoni. There are millions of temples dedicated to Shiva and his consort in the form of Lingam & Yoni, this public display of the phallus & genitalia is an accepted form of the God by the modern civilized society. There are laws against obscene display, however there is no averse to the display of phallus & genitalia in the form of Lingam & Yoni as Shiva and his consort, since it is a matter of faith and belief as professed under Hinduism.

One of the manifest of Hinduism is Kali, the image of the goddess is worshipped in the form of holding the strange khatvanga (skull-topped staff) and adorning a garland of skulls. This opulent display of skulls is openly accepted by the modern civilized society as one of the tradition of Hinduism.

Caste system has been prevalent in the country, though it is termed as a social evil, however efforts have been made to uplift the cause of the lower castes, but at no point of time the entire system that has divided the country and also brought it close to the helms of a civil war (the Mandal Commission era) has been outlawed and/or banned. No law has been framed towards weeding out the caste system prevailing in our country. If the entire caste system is done away with, there would be no Brahmins, no Kshatriyas, no Vaishyas, no Shudras, no Jats, no Gujjars, no Yadavs, but all would simply be Hindus and nothing else. There would not be any forced demands for preferences resulting in national mayhem. The age old traditions, customs, practices and systems cannot be completely done away with in the name of modern civilized society. This would also clean up our political system of vote banks.

Dowry: The laws for the dowry state no person shall take or give any dowry, but why certain exclusions have been made? There should be a blanket statute that if any dowry in any form is given or taken whether with or without consent the same shall tantamount to offence under the Dowry Act. Why doesn’t the politicians and women group come with such legislation that involves the lives of innumerable, instead they advocate laws that play with the faith of innumerable followers who have been worshipping their “Kul Devi” since time immemorial.

What steps have the government taken for the benefit and upliftment of the innumerable widows, what laws have been framed, what kind of social security has been provided? All of these widows continue to languish in the few centres located all over the country and run by private trusts and NGO’s. One needs to look at the living conditions of the widows of Brindavan, all the widows are herded in dingy atmosphere and are treated barbarically, where are the custodians of upliftment of women and social being?

Male Domination: Ours is a male dominated society, the women have never been given their due, the reverence to the matriarch is the only form of paying obeisance and that too against the back drop of a male dominance, take for instance of Ram, why do we revere Ram, he was the one who looked down upon his wife Sita and for the purpose of proving her chastity she had to pass “agni pariksha” and after having come out of the same unscathed she was sent to into oblivion, still we revere Ram, why? What action has been done to ban this reverence? The advocates and custodians of these women group silently pay obeisance to “Maryada Purushottam Ram, why? If the actions of Ram then committed are acceptable but are derogatory in the modern times, then why is he revered, such double standards for different practises of the same religion, why? The ban on reverence of the Kuldevi in the form of Satimata is also been looked at as one more instance of subversion of women by the male dominated society, denying the women the high pedestal and the rightful place in the History, culture and tradition of India.

Bigamy: The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 states that “any marriage between two Hindus solemnized after the commencement of this Act is void if at the date of such marriage either party had a husband or wife living; and the provisions of sections 494 and 495 of the Indian Penal (45 of 1860) Code shall apply accordingly” therefore portrayal of any character having more than one wife should be banned since these portrayals glorify bigamy and they should not be revered. There are several instances of the same, like “Dashrath the king of Ayodhya” the Ramayana says that he had three wives, therefore either edit and take out the parts of Ramayana that have Dashrath and his three wives out of Ramayana or the entirety of it should be banned since the law of the country prohibits any Hindu having more than one living wife. Can this be done?

Purdah System: Purdah is the practice that includes the seclusion of women from public observation by wearing concealing clothing and by the use of high walls, curtains, and screens erected within the home, nowhere permitted neither allowed nor mentioned in the Hindu Scripts or any of the Vedas, Puranas or any other relics or epics. Hinduism never practiced the Purdah system. Hindu Religion has always been open in its tenets and practices, it was Hinduism that gave birth to “Kama Sutra”, the Kandriya Mahadev Temple at Khajuraho, Sun Temple at Konark are World Heritage Sites and the depictions thereupon need not be written here, but if children visiting these sites are not required to be banned then why do we have various restrictions on display of like materials elsewhere in the form of Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, wherein the same has been very sacriously excluded in the name of religion, preservation of ancient monuments and archaeological site. All restrictions now prevailing were alien to ancient India, before it was run over by the Islamist & Christian cultures of the West, and we very conveniently adopted the western culture forgetting our rich ancient culture.

Freedom enjoyed by other citizens: If we are to strip down to nothing in a public place it would entail indecent portrayal and attracting a jail term, but at the same place if a Naga sadhu or a Digamber Jain Muni would walk in, everybody would rise up and fall at their feet to pay their respect, why, because it is a part and parcel of the multifaceted culture and tradition of our country. Similarly if a photograph of a couple having intercourse is shown publicly it would be unlawful but a similar photograph from the Kandriya Mahadeo temple at Khajuraho or Sun Temple at Konark is displayed it is the form of tradition, art and culture of our country at display. It is not the copulation by a couple, but the mind that is evil, not the tradition, culture and custom. A Sikh true to its custom carries a kirpan and wears a turban, but none else are permitted to carry the kirpan, since it is the tradition, custom and culture of a Sikh. A lot was discussed over the removing of the Turban of a Sikh at an international airport in the name of security and our country went overboard to decry the same, a Sikh in a foreign country was inducted into their armed forces with the Turban, we as a country rejoiced to the acceptability of our culture in alien places. It is all about our rich heritage of the multitude of culture, tradition and custom. Our country has a rich heritage of plethora of multifaceted tolerance of all customs, traditions and culture.

In the same breath, numerous efforts were made by way of laws and bans since the Muslim rulers and more recently by Lord William Bentinck and Raja Ram Mohun Roy against the social evil, but all were far sighted to outlaw the events but not the tradition and custom of the Kul Devi in the form of Sati Mata being worshiped, all of them were far more authoratian in their ways and actions, and none could have dared to challenge the Great Akbar or the Imperialist Lord Bentinck, they did not have to explain or have any of their actions passed through a democratic process, for they understood the forbearance the same would have on the lives of innumerable followers of the centuries old tradition and custom of worshiping their Kul Devi in the form of Sati Mata. The actions by those authoratian rulers were more of inclusive education of the ills of the social evils and preventive in nature by way of discouraging the evil.

The incumbent law framers just need to open their closed minds and be more far sighted and not proving right the quote of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, “Futile all attempts to penetrate the darkness of the bureaucratic mind”. It is more imperative for the Government to educate the society of the social evils plaguing our country and its consequences, already there are sufficient laws to tackle the same but mere imposition of laws do not completely prevent those social evils, it is only the faithful worshiping their Kul Devi in the form of Sati since time immemorial are harassed and inconvenienced, but nothing else is achieved.

Public awareness is the key to a vibrant and living democracy – awareness of what ails the nation, what are our ills and what remedies are best under the prevailing environment, awareness of what are the right and obligations of the citizens and what a faithful exercise of these rights will contribute towards the general good and well-being of all. All that was built to enshrine freedom has been eroded by a plethora of decrees, laws, rules, statutes, ordinances which serve a few. Today, it has become desperately difficult for the citizens to defend themselves against the onslaught of laws, rules, statutes and ordinances, and against the overpowering destruction of individual freedom and dignity.

The law and system should be holistic. And above all, it must be capable of being cooperatively administered because if we think that the rule to keep to the left of the road is going to be observed only by posting enough policemen, even then many people would not obey that rule. It is pertinent to build the character of the people against the evils plaguing our society and the country. Nothing else will help us, even if thousands of laws are passed.

Other Socio-Economical Approaches:

If the modern society is unmindful of rituals, faith and belief, the first and utmost step to be taken in the wake of modern science and approach towards ultra modern future is ban all firewood open cremation and burials all over the country.

Firewood Open Cremation: This form of disposal of human corpse has many ill effects to the environment including consumption of precious wood that are derived from cutting of trees, no form of wood should be allowed to be used for performing any ritual including any “yagna”. Would the politicians relent to this?

Burial: This form of disposal of human corpse is eating into land all over the country, these tracts of land running into several thousand acres or more can be better utilised for advancing the modern society. This age old ritual should also be stopped for the betterment of the future of the society. Why is everybody quiet on this count?

The politicos, custodians of Hinduism and Woman Groups need to answer satisfactorily to all of the above to upheld the law that bars and prohibits worshipping of centuries old Kul Devis in the form of Sati Mata.

Corruption is the largest evil plaguing our country, laws, checks and watchdogs are in place to prevent the same, but to weed out the same a concreted effort by way of education of the masses about its ill can only prevent the same, which everybody are sure of.

The largest socioeconomic problem facing our country is over population, the Late Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi had stared the infamous family planning initiative beginning April 1976. A strong backlash against any initiative associated with family planning followed the highly controversial program resulting in withdrawal of the same that continues till this date.

Pandit Nehru wrote “Old established traditions cannot be easily scrapped or dispensed with. Traditions have to be accepted to a large extent. Everywhere I found a cultural background which had exerted a powerful influence on their lives. This background was a mixture of popular philosophy, tradition, history, myth and legend, and it was not possible to draw a line between any of these”.

It is time we wake up, it has been a long spell of sleep, the draconian Sati Act needs to be amended. The Sati Act is flawed so far as the principles of natural justice is concerned and is also un-constitutional.

Various fringe laws have been imposed, without any application of mind and consequence thereof. There is no support to the various ills plaguing the society, but laws that have far reaching consequence to the faith and belief of innumerable from all sections of humanity need a pragmatic look, without hurting their sentiments. None of the followers and worshippers of their “Kul Devi” in the form of Sati, advocate or profess the tradition of widow burning and the same cannot be equated with age old Sati, all abhor the practise of widow burning so called namesake Sati and would continue to do so.

It must be remembered that India is a multi-cultural pluralistic society with tremendous diversity.  There are a large number of religions, castes, languages, ethnic groups, cultures, etc. in our country. Somebody is tall, somebody is short, somebody is fair, somebody is brown, somebody is dark in complexion, someone has Caucasian features, someone has Mongoloid features, someone has Negroid features, etc. We may compare our country with China which is larger in population and size than India. China has 1.3 billion people while our population is 1.1 billion.  Also, China has more than twice our land area. However, there is broad homogeneity in China. All Chinese have Mongoloid features; they have a common written script (Mandarin Chinese) and 96% of them belong to one ethnic group called the Han Chinese.

On the other hand, India as stated above, has tremendous diversity and this is due to large scale migrations and invasion into India over thousands of years.

People migrate from uncomfortable areas to comfortable areas. Before the coming of modern industry there were agricultural societies and India was a paradise for these because agriculture requires level land, fertile soil, plenty of water for irrigation etc. which was in abundance in India.  

Why would anybody living in India migrate to Afghanistan which has a harsh terrain, rocky and mountainous and covered with snow for several months in a year when one cannot grow any crop?  Hence, almost all migrations and invasions came from outside into India (except in recent

times when some people have gone to other countries for job opportunities).

The Mohammedan conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. The Islamic historians and scholars have recorded with great glee and pride the slaughters of Hindus, forced conversions, abduction of Hindu women and children to slave markets and the destruction of temples carried out by the warriors of Islam during 800 AD to 1700 AD by sword during this period. During this period if any of the women were able to fight and ward off the evils of these marauders and to uphold their chastity they committed Sati, and we in remembrance of their valour, braveness, chastity, piousness and peerlessness worship and pay reverence to them. If, paying obeisance to those who perished than to succumb to the onslaught of the foreign marauders is unlawful, anti-social, immoral and uncivil, we still stand by it, since it displays unparallel and unbiased nationalism and loyalty to their mother country and religion Hinduism.

We refer to the great sacrifices made by Aurobindo Ghosh, Chandra Sekhar Azad, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Surya Sen, Jatin Das and other revolutionaries of their ilk, where their goal was also independence of our country, however the method and approach was by way of violent means. Their cry was "Long live Revolution.......", but Gandhiji was against the violent principle and mode, quoting Gandhiji "I can only appeal, to those who believe in violence, not to disturb the free flow of non-violent demonstration. Violence is bound to impede progress towards independence. For me popular violence is much an obstruction in our path as the Government violence more successfully than the popular..... in combating the latter I should not have the same support as in the former". He said that "the revolutionaries can do applaud the actions of Mustafa Kemal Pasha and possibly de Valera and Lenin, but they do not realize India is not like Turkey or Ireland or Russia, that revolutionary activity is suicidal at this stage of the country's life".

The independent India has always accepted the hardships that our great revolutionary freedom fighters have gone through and their sacrifice is retold today, even in all adversity of thought and principles professed by the major freedom fighters of those times, they are also revered as people who fought for our freedom movement, inspite of their unacceptable mode, they too are today our heroes of the freedom movement. In the same vein age old Sati and their worship cannot be equated with widow burning today. It is like making Shaheed Bhagat Singh and his ilk standing on the same pedestal of today's Naxals and Maoist movement.

It is imperative that the present society needs to understand the Hindu psychology of those marauding period of Islamist onslaught and the sacrifices made by women of those times and before for their chaste, valour and peerless. The past, whether History or Mythology, is integral to India. In the same vein Sati Puja and its thought are within the ambits of Hinduism and cannot be equated nor erased by mere hue and cry over widow burning in present era (post Independence). It is akin to erasing of history that modern reformists would like to do tomorrow to the growing social revolutionary ideals and means adopted by the Maoist movement in the country by erasing Aurobindo Ghosh, Chandra Sekhar Azad, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Surya Sen, Jatin Das and other revolutionaries having similar social ideals and of their ilk from the history of freedom movement of our country.

It was the fear of the international criticism that the government of that day imposed ban on the age old culture, custom, tradition and religious adherence of Sati puja in Free India. The modern thinkers, influenced by west, never paid, nor considered enough, the respect for the culture, tradition, custom and religious adherence that INDIA is made up of. And this ignorance has caused Hindu Gods and Goddesses being disgraced by the west, from time to time, by displaying and/or putting them in most disrespectful manner, sometimes on the shoes and sandals and sometimes on obscene and vulgar dresses or on such places, no other religion's Gods could even ever be thought of being placed. It is sad that INDIA cannot even protect its citizens' poverty and plight from becoming a laughing stock in the west, where in-human and ugly photographs of its citizens are displayed and auctioned for huge amounts, it is not for charity or good work that these photographs or depictions are sold, but they generate huge profits for those western people who sold them. The influence of western phenomena, to the detriment of the rich ancient culture and tradition that we all should be proud of, adopted by our country's leadership, as well as ignorance of the values of the ancient customs and Hindu traditions are to be blamed for the shoddy treatment and in-human laws that have grabbed from in-numerous followers their right to worship and revere their Kuldevi in the form of Satimata. It is an ideological blackout of the cultural development and preservation of ancient values in contemporary India.

The situation demands an intellectual solvent that cuts through the woolly-headed posturing of our make-believe world, and compels us to ask some foundational questions. Why do we need to ban the 5000 years old tradition of Sati Puja to control sporadic incidents of widow burning that would number just about 50 since Independence. Is it not subverting to the colonial west, the same mistake that was done about 350 years back.

Since India is a country of great diversity, it is absolutely essential if we wish to keep our country united to have tolerance and respect for all communities and their traditions, practices and customs. It was due to the wisdom of our founding fathers that we have a Constitution which is secular in character, and which caters to the tremendous diversity in our country. It is the Constitution of India which is keeping us together despite all our tremendous diversity, because the Constitution gives equal respect to all communities, sects, lingual and ethnic groups, etc. in the country.

The present Sati Act is a piece of hastily drafted and ill-considered legislation, the blunder needs be put right, the ignorance in making this anomaly corrected is akin to the storming of the Golden Temple by the armed forces, the verdict of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Shah Bano Case.

The daily offerings and worship being carried out at the Sati Temples are in no manner derogatory to the accepted manners in the modern civilized society and before coming to a blanket ban on the activities of the followers of the Sati Mata and age old Sati Temples, it was prudent for the law makers to examine the activity, manners, traditions, customs and practises and if they would have found any activity against the acceptable manner in which the Kul Devi in the form of Sati Mata is worshipped, then suggest these unacceptable manners and customs and frame laws against the same, instead these law makers embarked into framing of a law that completely bans and prohibits the age old tradition, manner and custom of worship of the Kul Devi in the form of Sati Mata at age old Sati Temples.

The law has been badly drafted and all efforts to enlighten about the same has been in vain because of vested interest of politicians and women groups that do not know the true meaning of “Sati”. These centuries old Sati temples donot in any manner glorify sati, but on the contrary run schools for the girl child, widow rehabilitation centres, computer training centres for girls and many such projects that provide for the upliftment of female members of humanity.

Innumerable followers of the faith worshipping their “Kul Devi” cannot be asked to change their faith. These are western phenomena who change many wives/husbands in one lifetime and we Indians have traditionally not only spent our entire lifetime with one spouse but treat the arranged marriage as the one made in heaven and take vows for being together not only in this life but the next life too.

Again and again with the passage of time, the outlook of our country has just learnt to proscribe what they feel is not modern resulting in taking of hasty decisions to prevent cohabitation of multitude of cultures, traditions, customs and rituals that have been in existence in the sub-continent since time immemorial. The practise of Sati, before being outlawed, was prevalent since the Vedic Ages, there are several instances of the same in the various epics forming an integral part of the Hindu Literature.

Kuldevi in the form of Sati is being worshipped since ages as a part and parcel of tradition, custom, rites and ceremonies of a large number of people who apart from worshipping other gods and goddesses also worship Sati Mata as their Kuldevi in the form of a trishul, which, as per Hindu tenets, represents creation, maintenance and destruction, past, present and future, the three guna. The daily worship is done as per the Vedic rites and ceremonies prescribed for worship of the Shakti.

Quoting Mahatma Gandhi “Hate the sin and not the sinner”, we need to understand the true path towards prevent widow burning. It is imperative for the society to adopt basic means that would in itself prevent widow burning i.e. Education of all, Empowerment of Women, Prevention of Child Marriage. Once the female section of our country are educated and empowered we shall have numerous “Sati” in true form, for the valour, chastity, perseverance, leadership and peerless character and nature that these future women of our country shall become and lead our Great Country with its culture and tradition being its hallmark. The oppression of woman is prevalent more in parts of our country where education of all and empowerment of woman is at its lowest, once the education of all and empowerment of women reaches its zenith this imbalance shall also stand rectified on its own. We once again quote Mahatma Gandhi “Education of women is the paramount task in India. With education women can remain chaste. For such education we do not require great learning. All that is needed is character.”

We are orthodox in our practice of religion, the constitution or any other law, in force, of our country does not prevent nor bar us from our orthodoxy, we are fanatics, but only to our culture and custom, that we Hindus have inherited from our forefathers, who ages ago gave birth to Hinduism in this Universe. We shall always stand upright in upholding our culture, custom, tradition and values, for this is what the God made the human race on this universe.

Fukuyama writes "the ability of nations to create social economic prosperity will depend, he argues, on their culture. Culture is 'inherited ethical habit, a compound of images, habits, and social opinions that are irrational, and 'incapable of being systematized into universal laws.

Samuel P. Huntington asserts "in the post-Cold War world, the most important distinctions among people are cultural, and not political, economic or ideological; and ancestry, religion, language, history, values, customs and institutions are the attributes by which people define themselves."

The universalist pretensions of the west clash with our civilization, and the same poses a grave threat to peace. It is imperative for the Indian Leadership to formulate policies that are congruent with each section of the Indian psyche, and not just for their vote banks.

The followers of Kul Devi in the form of Sati Mata are resilient by force, but the bulge is sticking out, the explosion is at the boil, duty is caste upon the law makers to correct this anomaly, days are numbered when the resilient followers would be forced to become obstinate resulting in imbalance of the multifaceted civil society that shall be of catastrophic consequences to the future of our country. The Sati Act in present form is blasphemous, that has no tenets in Hinduism and has grossly insulted, shown contempt without any reverence for the Hinduism. We are not at war with the law makers but in battle with those who equate age old Sati Puja with widow burning in contemporary India. Quoting Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan “A society which puts a halo of sanctity round its tradition gains an inestimable advantage of power and permanence”, he further adds “If a tradition does not grow, it only means that its followers have become spiritually dead”. Radhakrishnan further argues “Each group has its own historic tradition, and assimilation of it is the condition of its growth of spirit. Even the savage clings to his superstitions obstinately and faithfully. For him his views are live forces. To shatter the superstition of the savage is to destroy his morality, his social code and mental peace. Religious rites and social institutions, whatever they may be, issue out of experiences that may be hundreds of years old”, he further adds “History has made them what they are, and they cannot be made different all of a sudden. Besides, God’s gracious purpose includes the whole of human race. Every community has inalienable rights which others should respect”.

This representation and request is without malice towards any of the gods, their forms, the traditions prevalent, and the other laws of the country in place. All of the references have been used towards enlightenment of the discrepancy in the Sati Act, and being religious and god fearing people, we always turn towards the almighty to help us in this matter of upheaval.

The wrong done by the past can definitely be corrected, and as such the Sati Act should clearly mention that “Notwithstanding anything mentioned in the Act, the Sati being worshiped before the commencement of the Act is not within the meaning of the Sati as mentioned in this Act and all temples and structures in commemoration of such Sati are also outside the purview of the Sati Act”.