(The TH in this name is pronounced like 'th' in 'with'. )
The word 'sathee' means 'wife'. 'Saha' means 'with'. 'Gamanam' means 'going'. The word totally means, ' a wife's going with (her dead husband)'.
In ancient India, it was a custom that the wives immolate themselves with their dead husbands. The scripts and popular belief say that that act will take her to higher abodes where the couple can enjoy the divine pleasures for a very long time. It appears that the custom was predominantly followed in the kshathriya sect.
Eventhough the scripts prescribed the custom, it does not seem to be mandatory even in the ancient days. For example, in Raamaayanam, Dasharatha's wives did not observe sahagamanam. In Mahaabhaaratham too, Sathyavathi, Ambika, ambaalika,Kunthi and wives of many kouravas did not perform that act.
Though the act was voluntary in the initial days, in the later periods of modern days, that became a bit unwilling or even foisted upon the poor widows, mostly dominated by the interests of the kinsmen in the deceased fellow's estate. We hear of officially stated sahagamanam recently upto the days of the Maraathaas.
At present, the system of sahagamanam is altogether banned. But, doesn't the incident of Roop Kanvar still wring the heart , even though that happened more than a quarter century ago?