In 1850, General Charles Napier was the British Commander in Chief of India. On 17 February 1850, Napier met with several influential Hindu priests who complained about the British prohibition of Sati, or the Hindu tradition of burning a widow alive on the pyre of the dead husband. The Hindu priests said the custom was an integral part of their culture.

Napier replied, “Very well. We also have a custom: When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.”

The practice of Sati all but disappeared on the Indian subcontinent.