Hinduism And Hindu Theology - What Is Agnipravesha?

Agnipravesha (lit. "entering fire") is a Sanskrit word that means "entering fire." 


  • Death by fire, which may occur in a variety of situations. 
  • This was often used to allude to the sati tradition of a widow being burnt on her husband's funeral pyre. 
  • Death by fire was also a legal kind of religious suicide; it may be used to provide relief for someone suffering from an incurable illness, or as part of specific rituals of sacrifice, such as the sarvasvara, which was conducted to send the sacrificer to paradise. 


Religious suicide had been condemned and had gone out of favor by the beginning of the eighteenth century. 

  • British outrage at the practice of sati prompted them to outlaw it everywhere they could in the nineteenth century.

You may also want to read more about Hinduism here.