Twice-Abandoned Widows Traditionally in India, widows walked into the funeral pyre that cremated their husband’s body, a suicide called sati. If they hesitated, the husband’s relatives would sometimes push. Currently, sati is outlawed, but many Indian widows experience a social death: They are forbidden to meet men and remarry, except sometimes to the dead man’s brother. Hundreds go to the sacred city of Vrindavan, where they are paid a pittance to chant prayers all day, as this woman does.