Evolution of Sati - a practice

Well, you heard that right! Today I'm going to share my first conspiracy theory with you guys. So, let's dive into it.

 

What is Sati?

Before answering what is Sati. Let us look at when it could have started. Well, Wikipedia says that it there are some records of it in 400CE.
 

But, looking at the Indian history, the practice of Sati gained popular significance during the Mughal and British rule. Because, if Sati as projected was a bad practice then, there would be records of some people revolting against it before 15th century. These reports are only found during the Mughal rule and British Rule.

If, Sati wasn't a bad practice then what could it be then? The mythological story behind this is of Sati(Daakshayini) who self-immolated because she was unable to bear her father Daksha's humiliation of her (living) husband Shiva. So, we get a definition for Sati.
 

"Sati was an action intended to be undertaken by few people who thought that there was no meaning to their life after after the demise of their spouse. Here, the survivor immolate herself/himself on her/his’s funeral pyre" 

But somehow as time progressed the new definition came into picture:

"Sati was a social funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman would immolate herself on her husband’s funeral pyre even without her consent"

Observations:

• There are not much of records of Sati as a practice before 16th century just because it wasn't forced by anyone/any community. Else, there could be someone like Raja Rammohan Roy would have revolted against this and historians wouldn't have forgotten to mention this(Unless the historians are Flatterers).
• So, pre 16th history the so-called Sati Pratice wasn't a practice at all.
• In the 16th century i.e, during the Mughal rule under the ruling of great, noble rulers like Babur et al.(chuckles) the report of Sati as a practice is found.
• It is observed that Rajput Queens used to immolate herself when the King was killed by the opponent king in the battle. They had a reason to, because of the aforementioned rulers like Babur, who kept on adding women to their harem. They couldn't withstand the respect given to them by these rulers, so they preferred death.
 

It became a practice during British East India Company reign. These Britishers had a clever way of establishing themselves in whichever land they invaded. One such tactic, is to convert the inhabitants into Christians. This way they destroyed the tradition and culture, and incepted their belief into the minds of the inhabitants.

 

In India too, they did the same thing. They used various strategies like Divide and Conquer and other things to establish themselves here. 

As mentioned earlier, one such tactic is to convert the inhabitants into Christians. But no one would convert from his religion to other religion simply. They wanted to show that his religion is inferior compared to theirs. But how do you do it? 

This is where they observed the so called practice of Sati by the Rajput Queens. They somehow needed to highlight this, so that it would be a blackspot to Hinduism and show that their religion is better than Hinduism. Without the help of few upper-caste and influential people who could anything for fame, it wasn't possible. They started propagating Sati so that it could be a practice which is what the Britishers wanted.

People used to believe them because they did not have the knowledge of Samskrtam and these people mentioned that they were written in the scriptures and everyone should follow it. So, with great hard work by this social workers Sati slowly started becoming a practice. The Britishers used this along with few other practices accredited to Hinduism as a weapon to convert Hindus into Christians. And then they finally took the privilege of banning something which they started.

All the thoughts which I've shared may or may not be true. But this is what I believe of how Sati as a practice could have been evolved.