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Self Mummification

Sokushinbutso were Buddhist priests or monks who caused their own death, in a way that they became mummified afterwards. This practice mostly took place in Northern Japan, where 16 to 24 mummifications where detected.
For three years, the priests will have a diet consisting only of seeds and nuts, while engaging in a thorough physical activity that removed their body fat. Then, for another three years, they ate only bark and roots, and began consuming a poisonous tea made from the liquid of the Urushi tree. This lead to vomiting and a fast loss of body liquid, and most importantly it eliminated any material that would lead to the decay of the body after death.
Finally the monk would lock himself in a stone tomb that barely fits him, with a small air tube and a bell. Every day the monk would ring the bell to let the people outside know that he is still alive. When the bell stopped ringing, the tube was removed and the tomb sealed.

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Photocredit: Wiki media 

 

Concubinage

Concubinage is the state where a young women is in an on-going quasi-matrimonal relationship, meaning that this women has a "somewhat marriage" with a man of higher class. That man would have in addition to one or more concubines, an official wife. The man would not provide full support to his concubine(s), and any children from them would be publically acknowledged as his, and would be of lower status than the children he has from his official wife.
Historically, concubinage was usually voluntary, by the women or her family, since it provided economic security for the women. Involuntary concubinage involved sexual slavery of the woman.

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Sati

Sati was a tradition performed in Hindu funerals. Nowadays it is practiced very rarely and considered a serious criminal act in India. The ritual included a dead man’s widow throwing herself on her husband’s funeral pyre attempting to commit suicide. This act was supposed to take place voluntarily, and from the history of previous accounts, most of them were. In some communities, the act was naturally expected of widows. However in modern times, a matter of debate was whether any social pressures were exerted on the widows. The main principle of this act was that little was expected of a woman’s life after the death of her husband, especially if they had no children. However, there were many times where the widow’s decision to commit the act of Sati was not welcomed by others, and where they tried to prevent the death.

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Photo Credit: Wikimedia.

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