Johannes Erwin Eugen Rommel was a German Generalfeldmarschall during World War II. Popularly known as the Desert Fox, he served in the Wehrmacht of Nazi Germany, as well as in the Reichswehr of the Weimar Republic, and the army of Imperial Germany.
Death by burning is an execution, murder, or suicide method involving combustion or exposure to extreme heat. It has a long history as a form of public capital punishment, and many societies have employed it as a punishment for and warning against crimes such as treason, heresy, and witchcraft. The best-known execution of this type is burning at the stake, where the condemned is bound to a large wooden stake and a fire lit beneath. A holocaust is a religious animal sacrifice that is completely consumed by fire, also known as a burnt offering. The word derives from the ancient Greek holokaustos, the form of sacrifice in which the victim was reduced to ash, as distinguished from an animal sacrifice that resulted in a communal meal.
A widow (female) or widower (male) is a person whose spouse has died and has usually not remarried. The male form, "widower", is first attested in the 14th century, by the 19th century supplanting "widow" with reference to men. The adjective for either sex is widowed. These terms are not applied to a divorcé(e) following the death of an ex-spouse.
Sati or suttee was a Hindu historical practice in which a widow should sacrifice herself by sitting atop her deceased husband's funeral pyre. It has been linked to related Hindu practice in regions of India. In Hindu scriptures, Sati is an obligatory practice from vedas. Greek sources from around c. 300 BCE make isolated mention of sati, but it likely developed into a real fire sacrifice in the medieval era within northwestern Rajput clans to which it initially remained limited, to become more widespread during the late medieval era.
Jauhar, sometimes spelled Jowhar or Juhar, was a Hindu Rajput practice of mass self-immolation by women and girls in the Indian subcontinent to avoid capture, enslavement, and rape by invaders when facing certain defeat during a war. Some reports of jauhar mention women committing self-immolation along with their children. This practice was historically observed in the northwest regions of India, with most famous jauhars in recorded history occurring during wars between Hindu Rajput kingdoms in Rajasthan and the opposing Muslim armies. Jauhar was only performed during war, usually when there was no chance of victory. The term jauhar often connotes jauhar-immolation. Jauhar involved Hindu Rajput women committing suicide with their children and valuables in a massive fire, in order to avoid capture and abuse in the face of inescapable military defeat. At the same time or shortly thereafter, the men would ritualistically march to the battlefield expecting certain death, which in the regional tradition is called saka. This practice was intended to show that those committing it valued their honor more highly than their lives.
A pyre, also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite or execution. As a form of cremation, a body is placed upon or under the pyre, which is then set on fire.
A suicide pill is a pill, capsule, ampoule, or tablet containing a fatally poisonous substance that a person ingests deliberately in order to achieve death quickly through suicide. Military and espionage organizations have provided their agents in danger of being captured by the enemy with suicide pills and devices which can be used in order to avoid an imminent and far more unpleasant death, or to ensure that they cannot be interrogated and forced to disclose secret information. As a result, lethal pills have important psychological value to persons carrying out missions with a high risk of capture and interrogation.
Caesar von Hofacker was a German Luftwaffe Lieutenant Colonel and member of the 20 July plot against Adolf Hitler.
Sati, also known as Dakshayani, is the Hindu goddess of marital felicity and longevity, and is worshipped as an aspect of the mother goddess Shakti. Sati was the first wife of Shiva, the other being Parvati, who was Sati's reincarnation after her death.
Criticism of Hinduism has been applied to both the historical and the current aspects of Hinduism, notably the caste system and the sati practice.
Roopkuvarba Kanwar was an Indian Rajput woman who was allegedly forced to immolate herself in an act of Sati at Deorala village of Sikar district in Rajasthan, India. At the time, she was 18 years old and had been married for eight months to Maal Singh Shekhawat, who had died a day earlier at age 24, and had no children.
The Guru Granth Sahib is the holy text of Sikhs. Several of the shabads (hymns) from the Guru Granth Sahib address the role of women in Indian and Sikh society.
Divrala is a village in the Sikar district of Rajasthan, India.
Suicide was a widespread occurrence in antiquity across cultures. There were many different methods and reasons for dying by suicide, and these vary across place and time. The origins of modern moral debates over the ethics of suicide can be found in this era.
Anumarana or Anugamana refers to the ancient Indian practice of self-immolation by which anyone with personal loyalty to the deceased could commit suicide at a loved one's funeral. Anumarana was practiced usually by the widowed wives, when learnt of husband's death at battlefield or elsewhere and he had been already cremated. The widow then resolves to take away her life and immolated herself with husband's ashes or padukas or other such memento. The practice of Anumarana is mentioned in Kamasutra. In Mahabharata, there is a mention of Anumarana being practiced by widows of Kshatriyas on rare occasions. The practice has been described to be prevalent northern India and had existed before the Gupta empire. As per custom, the Brahmin women were only permitted to die by Sahamarana and were not allowed the right of anumarana; however, non-Brahmin women could decide to immolate herself both by sahamarana or anumarana Anumarana was not comparable to later understandings of the practice of sati, as in this widows did not self-immolate in funeral pyre of her husband. When a widow immolated herself with the husband's dead body, it was called Sahamarana or Sahagamana
Besides the Ashtabharya, Krishna is described to have married several thousand women, he rescued from the demon Narakasura. The Bhagavata Purana and the Mahabharata state that 16,000 women were rescued, however the Vishnu Purana and the Harivamsa differ and set the number as 16,100. Generally all of them are unnamed, however many commentators of the Bhagavata Purana regard Rohini to be their leader, though such an explicit mention is not found in the scripture.
Jhola is a 2013 Nepali film based on a story by writer Krishna Dharabasi. It is about Sati culture that was prevalent in the Nepalese society until the 1920s in which wife had to immolate herself upon her husband's death, typically on his funeral pyre. For her role, actress Garima Panta won Best Actress award at SAARC Film Festival held in Sri Lanka, 2014. The film was selected as the Nepali entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.
Gojubavi is a village in Pune district in the Indian state of Maharashtra.
Rani Sati Temple is a temple located in Jhunjhunu, Jhunjhunu district, in the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the largest temple in India devoted to Rani Sati, a Rajasthani lady who lived sometime between the 13th and the 17th century and committed sati (self-immolation) on her husband's death. Various temples in Rajasthan and elsewhere are devoted to her worship and to commemorate her act. Rani Sati is also called Narayani Devi and referred to as Dadiji (grandmother).
Pativrata is a term used in Hinduism to refer to the conjugal fidelity of a woman towards her husband. It also refers to the term used to refer to a married woman who is faithful and dutiful to her husband.
