Sati (also popularly spelled as suttee and defined as the ancient custom in the Hindu religion of a wife being burnt with her dead husband) does not seem to have been enforced in ancient Nepal, i.e. during the rule of the Licchavi dynasty (ca. 300-879 A.D.). We have about 190 stone inscriptions from this period (Vajracharya 1973).¹ The only Licchavi inscription which has a reference to the sati system is the inscription of Manadeva I at the Changu Narayana temple in the north-eastern corner of the Kathmandu valley. This inscription (inscription no. 2) has probably the first reference (in the ancient Indian subcontinent) to this system, although it does not refer to the commitment of sati but abstention from it. In this inscription dated 464 A.D., Queen Rajyavati, mother of King Manadeva I, is depicted as deeply grieved at the death of her husband King Dharmadeva, and was ready to follow the dead husband, that is commit voluntary sati (immolation).

The incident is described in verses 6-11 of the inscription, which are reproduced in translation in the following paragraphs:

Verse 6.
Having brightened the whole world with the rays of his fame for the continual performance of good deeds, the King (Dharmadeva) went to heaven as if he were going to the garden [for a walk]. The queen [like a flower thrown in the fire] suddenly withered, and looked disoriented, and her attendants were also bewildered. Just before the [sudden] death of the king, the queen was worshipping the gods [at a temple?].

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