As I have read it, General Sir Charles Napier ended the practice of sati when he and his troops came upon a funeral pyre being constructed. They were told, “it is our tradition that when a man dies, his widow is burned alive on her husband’s funeral pyre.” So he told the head Indian, “It is our tradition that when a man burns a woman to death, we hang him by the neck until he is dead. My men will build a gallows next to your pyre. You may carry out your tradition, then we will carry out ours.”
Good motivation to stop, wasn’t it?