Roop Kanwar and the Sati that Shook India
Widow burning dates back millennia. But in 1987, one woman’s death caused a reckoning.
Dawn broke over a Rajasthani village on September 4, 1987, like any other day. But by sunset, the quiet farming community would bear witness to one of India’s most controversial traditions: sati, or widow immolation.
Roop Kanwar, only 18 years old, had been married eight months when her husband, Maal Singh, died. Within hours of his death, as people prepared his body for cremation, the young widow would meet the same fate — in full public view, cheered on by thousands. In the aftermath, police were befuddled: was this a murder or a suicide? Decades later, in October 2024, Indian courts would close the final chapter on the case. But the questions over sati — its origins, its purpose, its legacy, its ability to account for free will — remain.