Citation

Rezaeian M. Iran. J. Psychiatry Behav. Sci. 2015; 9(4): e1581.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences and Health Services)

DOI

10.17795/ijpbs-1581

PMID

26834797 PMCID

Abstract

India as the origin of records of self-burning (1) has witnessed different types of this act (2). According to Hindu mythology, Sati who married Shiva in opposition to her father's wishes was the first woman committed self-immolation (3). Moreover, the self-immolation of a Hindu widow on the funeral pyre of her husband which is called suttee (sati) is an historical forbidden example (3).

It would be important to find out how such stories would travel by means of literacy to other countries. Therefore, the aim of the present article is to highlight how a suttee story has travelled from India to Iran during the 16th century by the poem and was depicted in a book.

Poem Suz Va Gudaz (Burning and Melting)

Late Naw'i Khabushani died at the beginning of the 16th century was an Iranian poet who had traveled to India at least twice. One of his masterpieces is the poem Suz va gudaz (burning and melting) which narrates the love story of a Hindu girl who self-immolates on the pyre of her beloved one.

Interestingly, Walters' free manuscript W.649 is an illuminated and illustrated copy of this poem. The codex was written by Ibn Sayyid Murad al-Husayni and illustrated by Muhammad Ali Mashhadi in 1657 (4). There are 8 miniatures in the book; the first one depicts the actual act of self-immolation. The picture below is the full-colored original miniature...

Language: en