Widow Immolation in Mughal India: Perceptions of French Travellers and Adventurers in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

French travellers, during their travels in the Orient in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, have always shown intense curiosity for diverse issues, besides pursuing political and commercial objectives. A theme that they  were immensely interested in, and extensively wrote about in their travelogues is the inhuman practice of sati or widow burning in India. This issue has received much scholarly attention, yet a lacuna persists in the literature, as the varied observations and impressions of French travellers about the custom have not been properly explored. Using specifically the accounts of French travellers and adventurers (both translated and untranslated) about India, this article highlights the diverse and hitherto understudied perceptions of these travellers about sati as practiced in Mughal India.