Most literate people know that the Hindu practice of suttee, that is, burning a widow on the pyre of her husband, was a tradition halted by the British after their conquest of Indian lands.

What I, at least, did not know is what started this tradition the British stopped.

While there are some traces of it in ancient times, I have heard that suttee developed in its present form during the conquest of Tamurlane among Hindu noblewomen who preferred to die with their husbands rather than submit to being the rape-victims and harem slaves of Mohammedan conquerors.

Islam started suttee. Christianity stopped it.

Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.