"The entrance to the imposing Mehrangarh Fort is guarded by a series of seven famous gates. To the left of innermost gate, Loha Pol, or "Iron Gate", are 15 small handprints left by the wives of the maharaja before they immolated themselves on his funeral pyre. Known as sati marks, the gilded handprints most likely date back to the 1843 death of Maharaja Man Singh. The custom of sati has ancient origins in the Hindu faith, and was practiced widely in the Rajasthan area. Wives were dressed in wedding finery to join their husbands in death as an act of devotion and faith, usually within a day of his death. In 1731, following the death of Maharaja Ajit Singh six wives and fifty-eight concubines placed themselves in the funeral fires. The practice horrified early western colonials, and it was outlawed by the British in 1829, but was not officially condemned by the Indian government until 1987 when they passed the Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, in the wake of a well publicized sati death. The last recorded case of sati in Jodhpur was in 1953." - Steven Perez from Bookmarklet