Sari in skt litterature

[Peter Gaeffke]

Has anybody knowledge of a custom practiced among women of Hindu (?) or 
Muslim(?) warriors to stand behind the fighter in battle and let the end 
of the sari (ancal) fly over him. In such a situation the woman holds 
in her left hand a tray (arati). This particular "rite" is seen  as a promise to 
die with the hero if he is killed in battle. Descriptions of this rite 
appear in medieval texts from the Dekkhan.
Peter Gaeffke