Roop Kanwar – Sati 1989<\/p>\n
By \u00a0Rashme Sehgal<\/p>\n
A widow is made to dress in her bridal finery<\/p>\n
To take a last walk<\/p>\n
From her house to the blazing pyre<\/p>\n
Twelve steps<\/p>\n
Iis all the allowance she is given<\/p>\n
To move from one abyss to another<\/p>\n
Twelve steps<\/p>\n
To transform herself into a column of fire.<\/p>\n
A group of women chanting mantras<\/p>\n
Lead her up to the blazing pyre<\/p>\n
Made sacred by myrrh and frankincense<\/p>\n
All through her life she walked<\/p>\n
One step behind her husband<\/p>\n
Now she will walk behind these women<\/p>\n
Walk into this raging fire<\/p>\n
To be transformed into dry ash.<\/p>\n
Her soul\u2019s benediction will purify this ash<\/p>\n
To be carried from home to home<\/p>\n
As sanctified bread<\/p>\n
Twelve steps is all the allowance<\/p>\n
She has been given<\/p>\n
To transform herself into<\/p>\n
A column of raging fire.<\/p>\n
( The Roop Kanwar Sati was a pivotal moment for women in India. Her sati made us all hang our heads in shame)<\/p>\n
( Rashme Sehgal is an independent senior journalist, writer and poet)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Roop Kanwar – Sati 1989 By \u00a0Rashme Sehgal A widow is made to dress in her bridal finery To take a last walk From her house to the blazing pyre Twelve steps Iis all the allowance she is given To move from one abyss to another Twelve steps To transform herself into a column of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[92,33,1284,91],"tags":[1918,1899,1919],"class_list":["post-4536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-international","category-international-political-national","category-national","tag-poem","tag-rashme-sehgal","tag-sati-1989"],"yoast_head":"\n