How Satī was rebuilt, mark by mark
Bench notes, Satī: what we found, what we rejected, and what we finally set down. Kept in the open, because a restoration you cannot audit is just a spelling with confidence.
What We Found
The attestation runs through the tradition's own sources: सती. Meaning: "The True One — daughter of Dakṣa and first wife of Śiva, who immolated herself at her father's sacrifice".
The figure behind the name: Satī's story is told in the Śiva Purāṇa, the Skanda Purāṇa, and countless regional retellings.
What the Name Carried In
The Marriage of Satī and Śiva. Satī fell in love with Śiva, the ascetic god of destruction, and married him despite her father Dakṣa's contempt. Dakṣa considered Śiva uncouth, a dweller in cremation grounds, unfit for the company of respectable gods.
Dakṣa's Sacrifice. Dakṣa held a great sacrifice and invited every god except Śiva. Satī went alone to confront him.
A spelling that has to carry stories like these is not a label. It is equipment.
What We Kept
The evidence, mark by mark — 1 feature the keyboard form sati cannot hold:
- i → ī — Long vowel. Kept.
What We Rejected
Any form invented for availability. The rule on the bench: if the evidence does not carry it, the domain does not get it — whatever the registrar has in stock.
What We Set Down
Satī — Tier-1 is not a compliment; it is a measurement. This restoration keeps something the ASCII form provably loses, and the measurement is repeatable.
For the voice: 'Suh-TEE' — keep the first vowel short and crisp, and lengthen the final 'ee'. In careful Sanskrit the t is dental, the tongue touching the teeth.
The temple stands at /sites/sati/ — the notes above are public in its Scholarly Edition, sources and all.
At a Glance
- Restored name: Satī
- ASCII form: sati
- Meaning: "The True One — daughter of Dakṣa and first wife of Śiva, who immolated herself at her father's sacrifice"
- Domain of influence: Marital Fidelity, First Wife of Shiva
- Pantheon: Sanskrit
- Classification: Tier 1
- Original script: सती
- Series: The Restoration Files, No. 213 of 271
The File Continues
The temple's founding dispatch tells the name's story; its Resonance File reads the myths into the industries; the blog index holds the whole archive.
Continue the series — previous file: Sarasvatī (read it here) · next file: Seirḗn (read it here).
The Restoration Files are written from the same canonical record as the temples themselves: the lexicon, the lore catalog, the pattern atlas, and the cited scholarly sources. If a file ever disagrees with its temple, the temple is right — tell us, and the file will be corrected.