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Article: The echoes of Sita. (sexism against women in India) (Cover Story)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- March 28, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Fire is at the heart of Hindu ritual: It purifies, as in cremations, and it verifies virtue. The mythic paragon of Indian womanhood, the goddess Sita, walked through fire to prove her chastity to her husband, Rama. Widows used to demonstrate devotion by throwing themselves (or getting thrown) onto their husbands' funeral pyres. In the late 1970s, new echoes of Sita emerged. At first they appeared to be a rash of kitchen accidents in which careless wives dipped saris into cooking fires or were burned by exploding stoves. But as the immolations became more common, they caught the attention of feminist activists and began to be reclassified, first as suicides, then as murders. ...
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