Suttee was also customary.
Hinduism, which was once the religion of Java, but has been extinct there for four centuries, is still in vogue in the islands of Bali and Lombok, where the cruel custom of widow-burning (suttee) is still practised, and the Hindu system of the four castes, with a fifth or Pariah caste (called Chandala), adhered to.
Among human sacrifices may be mentioned the suttee, or custom of immolating a widow on the funeral pyre of the husband, and the Khond sacrifice of the Meriah, who was either purchased or the son of a victim father.
Did much to suppress infanticide, suttee and the slave trade in his state.
Guru Amar Das also discountenanced the practice of suttee, saying: "They are not satis who burn themselves with the dead.
The custom of suttee, or widow-burning, has long been abolished in the state, but the people retain all their superstitions regarding witches and sorcery; and as late as 1870, a Bhil woman, about eighty years old, was swung to death at Kushalgarh on an accusation of witchcraft.
His governor-generalship (1827-1835) was notable for' many reforms, chief among which were the suppression of the Thugs, the abolition of suttee, and the making of the English language the basis of education in India.
His two most memorable acts are the abolition of suttee and the suppression of the Thugs.
In the teeth of strenuous opposition, from both Europeans and natives, Lord William carried the regulation in council on the 4th of December 1829, by which all who abetted suttee were declared guilty of " culpable homicide."
18 The Sall' (Suttee) wife immolated to accompany her deceased husband often became the guardian of the village, and on the Sati shrine a snake may be represented in the act of rising out of the masonry.
Thus the Brahmans were offended at the prohibition of suttee and female infanticide, the execution of Brahmans for capital offences, the re-marriage of widows, the spread of missionary effort and the extension of Western education.
