Witness to Satidaha

Five tombs of the victims of Satidaha, a long abandoned practice of burning Hindu widows along with their deceased husbands, still exist in front of Pirojpur District Ansar and VDP office at Kumarkhali in Pirojpur municipality area.

However, the reminders of a black chapter of Indian history, are getting ruined due to lack of proper steps for preservation.

Three of the tombs are already broken from top and another one is badly damaged.

In 1829, the then British government in India declared Satidaha illegal and punishable, following movements by humanitarian social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy. 

Identity inscribed in a tomb shows that the victims were from local Majumdar family and the year mentioned there shows that the Satidaha was done after around 40 years of its ban by the British government.

However, not much could be known about them as the family left the country during the partition of Indian sub-continent between India and Pakistan in 1947 and there was hardly any step to preserve the tombs and their history.

“Had I been burnt with my late husband ten years ago, who would look after my two kids?” said Maloti Rani, 40, of Kalibari in Nazirpur upazila under the district, referring to Satidaha.

Another widow Kanika Mondal, 40, who lost her husband 13 years ago, said, “When my husband died my daughter was only five years old. What would happen to her if I were burnt with my husband's body?”

Like the two women, many others came to know about Satidaha from their forefathers.

Muhammad Shahin Reza, assistant professor of history at Government Suhrawardi College in Pirojpur, has urged taking steps to preserve the rare signs of Satidaha to inform the coming generations of the black history.

He also urged inclusion of the incident in textbooks and conducting research on the matter.