Ancient History Facts You Definitely Did not Learn In School #7
The ancient Indian practice of “sati” entails a widow being burned alive on her late husband's funeral pyre. This was a Hindu custom in which a dutiful wife would follow her husband into the afterlife. This supposedly “voluntary” ritual existed from 320 A.D. to 1829 — with many accounts of women who were drugged or thrown into the fire against their will. It even still happens today on rare occasions, though it has been outlawed.