Final answer:
Sati is a historical Hindu practice where a widow was burned on her husband's funeral pyre, showing extreme wifely devotion. Guru Amardas Ji of the Sikh faith actively opposed this practice. Aurangzeb and the British later took measures to abolish it.
Step-by-step explanation:
Sati is the practice of burning a widow on her husband's funeral pyre, a tradition that has been a part of certain Hindu communities. It is understood to reflect the extreme level of wifely devotion and the belief in a wife's life being inherently connected to her husband's. Guru Amardas Ji, a significant figure in Sikhism, notably opposed this practice. This opposition was in line with the Sikh tenets of gender equality and the sanctity of life.
While sati was originally practiced primarily by aristocratic Hindu warrior families, over time social pressures and the desire for spiritual merit lead many widows to this tragic fate, which was exacerbated by societal norms that did not value the life of a woman independently of her husband. Efforts to stamp out the practice were also made by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb and later by the British, who legally prohibited the act and introduced reforms to support widow remarriage.