Twenty years ago, when
Roop Kanwar came to dusty Deorala village, in the Sikar district of
Rajasthan, as a young bride, she created quite a stir. For one, she was
a graduate and, unlike the other Rajput women in the village, she had
been to a beauty parlor.
Barely eight months after her marriage, when Roop lost her husband, she
did something that created more than a local stir: the 18-year-old widow
committed 'Sati' by immolating herself on her husband's funeral pyre.
The Rajputs, who initially had been taken in by her charm, were now in
awe of her valor.
According to Rajput belief, a Hindu widow who dies burning herself on
her husband's pyre is most virtuous. As a consequence, the woman was
believed to go straight to heaven, and to have redeemed her forefathers
by her act. Subsequently, the sati, or virtuous woman, was worshipped as
a goddess, with temples built in her memory.
After the Deorala incident, however, numerous arrests, jail stays and
rounds of courts and controversies followed. But, the monstrous death of
Roop Kanwar ironically proved to be a blessing in disguise. Her death,
besides sparking a national outrage, changed Deorala. The change may
have been slow, but is perceptible.
According to the 2001 Census, the total population of Deorala is 9,328,
with 4,453 women. Today, one can see older girls in uniforms walking to
school daily. Says Roopkanwal Kanwar, a Rajput anganwadi worker
(community health worker), "Earlier, the only time the women in our
families stepped out was when they were going to their parents' house.
But now, we have working professionals, too." Roopkanwal is among the
many Rajput women of the village who work as anganwadi workers for the
state government. She earns Rs 1,000 a month (US$1=Rs 39.45), but more
significant is her comment: "I can see the world."
Deorala's sarpanch (head of the village council) Shankar Singh was
serving in Border Security Force in Jodhpur when the infamous incident
occurred. "I read about it in the newspapers. I was curious to know
more. I took leave and came here. A death-like calm prevailed over the
village. Most men were in police custody." Singh proudly shares another
bit of information, "Today, we have six women ward panch (in-charge of a
ward), and there are about 27 anganwadi workers."
"There was a time when sending girls off to school beyond class 5 was
deemed a crime," recollects Sohan Kanwar, the only Rajput ward 'panch'
among the six women. "But today, our girls have stepped beyond Deorala
to pursue higher education," she adds. As many as 200 village girls are
in degree colleges outside the village.
The Rashtriya Balika Varishtha Upadhyay Sanskrit Vidyalaya (senior
secondary Sanskrit school for girls), which has sent 16 class XII
pass-outs onto government teaching training institutes this year, has a
pass rate of 100 per cent. According to headmaster Jagdish Prasad Mali,
the dropout rate of girls is negligible as compared to that of the boys.
Interestingly, Deorala now has eight government-funded schools of which
two are exclusively for girls.
Education and awareness have ensured that the young generation does not
blindly follow age-old practices. Sonam Sharma, a class 12 student of
Sanskrit Vidyalaya, says she would never do what Roop Kanwar did. "I
fail to understand how someone could even think of doing that. What is
more surprising is the fact that she was educated and the family she was
married into was one of the rich families of Deorala."
"Whenever
I ask the elders in the family about Roop Kanwar, I am told to shut up
and study," says Bharti Saini, Sonam's classmate. Bina Kanwar, a Rajput
widow and anganwadi worker, is equally skeptical of the 1987 incident,
but demands that the government should allow Sati worship. Oddly enough,
most elders of the village second the demand. In fact, in 1987, the
villagers did try to set up a temple at what is today known as the
Samadhi 'sthal' (final resting place). The spot, surrounded with stones,
has two tridents, one of them saffron.
Following the Roop Kanwar sati incident, state-level laws were first
introduced to prevent such incidents, and then followed the central
government's Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987.
Today, the Samadhi 'sthal' bears a deserted look, as paying reverence at
a Sati 'sthal' comes under the purview of glorification of Sati and is
considered a crime under the law. A Sati attempt is also considered a
crime and is deemed suicide.
People in the village are also loath to talk about the incident. "It was
a freak incident. We want to move on, but every year on September 4, the
media and police rub it in," says Roop Kanwar's father-in-law, Sumer
Singh. The district magistrate of Sikar, in the Shekhawti region of
Rajasthan, deploys a Sub-Divisional Magistrate and police force from
Ajitgarh police station at the Samadhi sthal to check Sati glorification
on this day.
In January 2004, a special Sati court functioning from the premises of
the District Court, acquitted all the 11 accused, including Sumer Singh,
on the grounds that the prosecution could not establish the charges.
Kavita Srivastava of People's Union for Civil Liberties, who was at the
forefront of the agitation triggered off by the Deorala incident, says
she is happy the modern ideology has won over the traditional one, and
Deorala has moved on.
There have been 26 reported cases of Sati in Rajasthan post-Independence
and seven out of these were reported in the Shekhawati region alone. The
Shekhawati region comprises Sikar, Churu and Jhunjhunu districts that
are largely inhabited by the Rajput community, perhaps one of the
reasons why have been a greater number of cases reported from here.
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"Whenever
I ask the elders in the family about Roop Kanwar, I am told to shut up
and study," says Bharti Saini, Sonam's classmate. Bina Kanwar, a Rajput
widow and anganwadi worker, is equally skeptical of the 1987 incident,
but demands that the government should allow Sati worship. Oddly enough,
most elders of the village second the demand. In fact, in 1987, the
villagers did try to set up a temple at what is today known as the
Samadhi 'sthal' (final resting place). The spot, surrounded with stones,
has two tridents, one of them saffron.