Burning Women

Paper Summary:

Using anthropologist Michael Allen's article, 'The Hindu View of Women', this essay examines the way in which Hindu beliefs shape and inform both the treatment and conceptualization of women within its religious culture. A detailed discussion of the specific religious beliefs that have influenced the treatment of women is undertaken, and a thorough case study of the Hindu practice of suttee (sati), or widow burning, is used to illustrate Allen's article.

From the Paper:

"The custom of widow-burning, since first witnessed and recorded by foreigners in 316 B.C.E., has variously produced reactions of indignation, horror, admiration, disgust and pity. Early eyewitness accounts particularly exemplify these reactions and provide a wealth of information not readily available to today's anthropologist due to the decline of suttee since its illegalisation in 1829. Although such accounts are laden with methodological problems and are invariably accounted solely from the time-specific, culture-specific, white, European "male gaze," they provide an informative insight into the physical reality of suttee. One such account by the Dutch traveler Stavorinus recounts the acts of a sati on the shore of the Ganges in 1770 (quoted in Weinberger-Thomas, 1999: 97-100). From this account, several important themes emerge which can be used to expose the ideology that underpins the treatment and conceptualization of women within Hinduism."

More papers on Burning Women:

• Film Review # 127022 : "Paris Is Burning"
• Analytical Essay # 131772 : "Burning Vision" and "The Unnatural and Accidental Women" - Play Reviews"
• Book Review # 101679 : "Burning Vision" and "The Unnatural and Accidental Women"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: