NEW DELHI, March 18 (UPI) -- A 65-year-old Indian woman jumped into the funeral pyre of her husband as part of age-old tradition, which has been since banned.
Rukia Devi's son Jagdish Yadav and villagers in Samastipur district said she was unable to bear the loss of her husband.
When family members did not find her at home several hours after the cremation, they rushed to the cremation ground to find her burned body along with the funeral pyre, Press Trust of India reported.
Some of the villagers claimed Devi had put kerosene oil on her body before accompanying her husband's funeral to the cremation ground.
India has outlawed the practice of Sati, a traditional Hindu practice of a widow immolating herself on her husband's funeral pyre.
"Sati" means a virtuous woman. A woman who dies burning herself on her husband's funeral fire was considered most virtuous and was believed to directly go to heaven.
