Sati through the Ages in Tamil Nadu

The practice of Sati was popular among the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Sumarians. The general meaning of the word Sati is wife. The name of Parvathi, the wife of Siva, is Sati Devi. She became angry with her father Daksha, when he failed to invite Siva for the ceremonial sacrifice. So, she jumped into the sacrificial fire in the presence of the assembled celestials, thereby proving herself a faithful wife. Subsequently, the term was applied to those women who ended their lives in flames along with the dead bodies of their husbands.