{ "model": { "rank": 5620, "code": "thing-q208088", "model_id": "vr.tr.sati", "name": "sati", "purpose": "Let an agent explain sati as a historical practice, relay its history, regional extent, reform movements, colonial and postcolonial legislation and scholarly debates from historical and legal sources with interpretations attributed, avoid glorification, and distinguish sati from the goddess Sati, Hindu widowhood customs generally, jauhar as mass self-immolation to avoid capture and other forms of retainer sacrifice.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Activities and processes", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "ACT", "domain": "ACT.PRC", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q208088/", "tier": 2, "score": 66, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [], "aliasCount": 0, "merged": 0, "knownIn": 66, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q208088", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q208088", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T22:52:39Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q208088", "registryId": "vr.tr.sati", "name": "sati", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "ACT.PRC" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q208088/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.sati", "name": "sati", "purpose": "Let an agent explain sati as a historical practice, relay its history, regional extent, reform movements, colonial and postcolonial legislation and scholarly debates from historical and legal sources with interpretations attributed, avoid glorification, and distinguish sati from the goddess Sati, Hindu widowhood customs generally, jauhar as mass self-immolation to avoid capture and other forms of retainer sacrifice.", "definition": "A historical practice, recorded mainly in parts of the Indian subcontinent, in which a widow died by burning on her husband s funeral pyre or otherwise immediately after his death, sometimes described as voluntary and in many documented cases coerced, named after the goddess Sati of Hindu tradition; the practice was never universal, was criticised by reformers such as Ram Mohan Roy, banned in British-ruled Bengal in 1829 and later throughout India, and after the 1987 death of Roop Kanwar in Rajasthan the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act of 1987 criminalised its commission and glorification. The model presents history and scholarship neutrally, with interpretations attributed, and does not glorify the practice.", "what_it_is_for": "Understanding a historical practice and its abolition.", "affordances": [ "explain history and extent", "relay reform and legislation", "present scholarly debates with attribution", "distinguish related terms" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Widow death on pyre", "Historically regional and never universal", "Coercion documented", "Criminalised" ], "appearance": "Not an object; known from historical records, memorial stones called sati stones and legal documents.", "visual_identification": [ "Historical practice of widow burning", "Sati, suttee", "The goddess Sati is a mythological figure; widowhood customs vary widely; jauhar was self-immolation to avoid capture in war; retainer sacrifice is a broader category" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "Bengal Sati Regulation", "typical_range": "1829", "unit": "year", "note": "Lord William Bentinck" }, { "quantity": "Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act", "typical_range": "1987", "unit": "year", "note": "India" }, { "quantity": "registry parents", "typical_range": "retainer sacrifice, death by burning", "unit": "note", "note": "" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "historical cases in medieval and early modern India", "colonial-era records", "post-independence cases and prosecutions" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "retainer sacrifice", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "was opposed by", "target": "Ram Mohan Roy", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is prohibited by", "target": "Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "jauhar", "why": "" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Bengal Sati Regulation 1829", "Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act 1987", "Indian Penal Code provisions on abetment" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Glorifying the practice", "Stereotyping Hinduism or India", "Unattributed claims about frequency" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What sati was.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What was sati, and how does it differ from the goddess Sati, widowhood customs, jauhar and retainer sacrifice?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is someone being pressured toward self-harm after bereavement or facing coercion, in which case contact emergency services or crisis support now?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "terms", "name": "Terms", "description": "Terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "terms-finding", "name": "Terms", "description": "Terms.", "questions": [ { "text": "Why is the practice called sati or suttee, and how does the name relate to the goddess?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Sati (Hindu goddess)?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "extent", "name": "Extent", "description": "Historical extent.", "findings": [ { "id": "extent-finding", "name": "Extent", "description": "Extent.", "questions": [ { "text": "Where and among which groups was sati recorded, and why was it never universal, as historians describe?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "reform", "name": "Reform", "description": "Reform movement.", "findings": [ { "id": "reform-finding", "name": "Reform", "description": "Reform.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did Ram Mohan Roy and others campaign against sati?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "law", "name": "Law", "description": "Legislation.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "colonial", "name": "Colonial", "description": "1829 regulation.", "findings": [ { "id": "colonial-finding", "name": "Colonial", "description": "Colonial.", "questions": [ { "text": "What did the 1829 regulation do, and how did it spread?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "modern", "name": "Modern law", "description": "1987 Act.", "findings": [ { "id": "modern-finding", "name": "Modern law", "description": "Modern law.", "questions": [ { "text": "Why was the 1987 Act passed, and what does it prohibit, including glorification?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Scholarship.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "debates", "name": "Debates", "description": "Scholarly debates.", "findings": [ { "id": "debates-finding", "name": "Debates", "description": "Debates.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do scholars such as Lata Mani argue about colonial debates on sati, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral and free of glorification?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "memory", "name": "Memory", "description": "Memorials.", "findings": [ { "id": "memory-finding", "name": "Memory", "description": "Memory.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are sati stones, and how is commemoration regulated?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits memorial stone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "How should scholarly debates about colonial records be presented?", "Should sati stones be a separate entry?", "How should the 1987 case be linked respectfully?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a sati, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain sati as a historical practice, relay its history, regional extent, reform movements, colonial and postcolonial legislation and scholarly debates from historical and legal sources with interpretations attributed, avoid glorification, and distinguish sati from the goddess Sati, Hindu widowhood customs generally, jauhar as mass self-immolation to avoid capture and other forms of retainer sacrifice.", "characteristics": { "substance": "activity", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Described in 66 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a sati, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "something that happens over time", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [], "standing": "Described in 66 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one sati from another, and a sati from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a sati, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a sati, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a sati is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a sati, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a sati, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a sati is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a sati sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a sati, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a sati, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a sati is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a sati from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a sati, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a sati, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a sati is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a sati passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a sati between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a sati, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a sati, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a sati is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a sati, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a sati is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a sati, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a sati, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a sati is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "process-and-outcome", "name": "Process, inputs and outcome", "description": "How a sati proceeds, what it needs and what it leaves behind.", "rationale": "An activity is known by its steps and its results, and both have to be recordable while it is still running.", "layers": [ { "id": "steps-and-sequence", "name": "Steps and sequence", "description": "The steps of a sati, their order and what may run in parallel.", "findings": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions", "name": "Steps, preconditions and completion", "description": "What has to be true before each step of a sati and what marks it done.", "questions": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a step of a sati, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a step of a sati, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a step of a sati is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-results", "name": "Inputs, resources and results", "description": "What a sati consumes and what it produces.", "findings": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs", "name": "Inputs, outputs and side effects", "description": "The resources a sati takes and the results it leaves, wanted or not.", "questions": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the inputs and results of a sati, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the inputs and results of a sati, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the inputs and results of a sati is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What sati is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of sati are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is sati operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of sati and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of sati?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as sati?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a sati came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a sati and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a sati, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a sati, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a sati is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a sati is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a sati, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a sati, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a sati is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }