Sati is the practice by which a recently widowed woman commits suicide as a result of her husband’s death. 

Most popular options were:

• Being burned to death on her husband’s funeral pyre
• Being buried alive with the husband’s corpse
• Being drowned

The practice is still used today (rarely) but has been officially outlawed in India.

Women committing sati were encouraged by priests (who received the best item from the women’s possessions as payment).

Women were often bound to the corpses to prevent them from escaping.