Weinberger-Thomas, Catherine. Ashes of Immortality: Widow-Burning in India. Chicago: U of Chicago, 1999. Print.

I first searched the Lafayette library catalogue for “Hinduism Funerals” because the life and death rituals we read about were very interesting to me. With this search there was only one book, so I decided to focus my search on the widow burning we learned about in class. I then searched “Sati, Hinduism” and found Ashes of Immortality: Widow-Burning in India by Catherine Weinberger-Thomas. Some of the subject terms seemed useful such as “widow suicide, Legal Status, Laws, and Hinduism Social Aspects”.

The cover depicts an old image of the Sati tradition, which was very visually appealing. As I flipped through the pages, I found even more images involved with Hinduism and this ritual. Spread throughout the book are old and new photographs as well as religious illustrations. Having a visual is important to me when reading about unfamiliar traditions.

The book is divided into seven sections, with each sub-section clearly labeled. There was also a table of contents for each image. Another aspect I found helpful was a glossary of Hinduism terms. Based on the table of contents, every section seemed to be helpful if I were to write my paper on Sati.