Cleopatra wrote: >I agree with Bhate. Women are always considered very delicate >and emotionally weak.Giving out the body of their loved ones >to fire, is definitely one thing they could not do.So may be the >people just made it a rule and assigned the job to the male >member of the society who are considered more strong emotionally. What about "Sati" pratha that was practiced as early as fourth century BC ? Could Satis have been considered emotionally strong or weak by then society ? On the original query, I really don't know the explanation from the scriptures. Any अध्येता ?