heroic women, and moral exemplars. In Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days, Phileas Fogg rescues Princess Aouda from forced sati. In her article "Can the Subaltern Speak?", Indian philosopher Gayatri Spivak discussed the history of sati during the colonial era and how the practise took the form of imprisoning women in India in a double bind of self-expression attributed to mental illness and social rejection, or of self-incrimination according to colonial legislation. The woman who commits sati takes the form of the subaltern in Spivak's work, a form much of postcolonial studies takes very seriously. The 2005 novel The Ashram by Indian writer Sattar Memon, deals with the plight of an oppressed young woman in India, under pressure to commit suttee and the endeavours of a western spiritual aspirant to save her. In Krishna Dharabasi's Nepali novel Jhola, a young widow narrowly escapes self immolation. The novel was later adapted into a movie titled after the book. Amitav Ghosh's Sea of Poppies'' (2008) represents the practice of sati in Gazipur city in the state of Uttar Pradesh and reflects the feelings and experience of a young woman named 'Deeti' who escaped sati as her family and relatives were forcing her to do sati after her old husband died. See also Jauhar Self-immolation Ritual suicide Deorala Thalaikoothal Witch-hunt Notes References Sources Mani, L. (1987). Contentious traditions: the debate on sati in colonial India. Cultural Critique, (7), 119–156. Mani, L. (1998). Contentious traditions: The debate on sati in colonial India. University of California Press. Meenakshi Jain (2016). Sati: Evangelicals, Baptist Missionaries, and the Changing Colonial Discourse, Aryan Books International. Sangari, K., & Vaid, S. (1981). Sati in Modern India: a report. Economic and Political Weekly, 1284–1288. Zechenter, E. M. (1997). In the name of culture: Cultural relativism and the abuse of the individual. Journal of Anthropological Research, 319–347. External links Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987. Official text of the Act on Government of India's National Resource Centre for Women (NCRW) Maja Daruwala, A History of Sati Legislation in India , People's Union for Civil Liberties. Violence against women in Asia Death customs Fire in religion Suicide methods Superstitions of India Women's rights in religious movements Widowhood in India Hindu rituals related to death Suicide in India Gender and Hinduism Femicide Violence against women in India Women and death Indo-European culture Human sacrifice Traditions involving fire Criticism of Hinduism