[dgjrhgi]

That's probably what you were told by India mainstream media(read pro-western). 'Sati'(widow threw herself on to her husband's funeral pyre) was never a part of broadly accepted Hindu culture. It was practiced only in some areas in West Bengal,India.

If you want the read the un-biased facts and stories for pre-British and pre-Mugoul India then I would highly recommended: "India as they Saw" book which is collection of snippets from travel journal from foreign visitors to India during that time period.