A Tragic Tradition On This Day In History

Every day this week, Here & Now's Robin Young is checking in with Michael Farquhar, author of "Bad Days in History: A Gleefully Grim Chronicle of Misfortune, Mayhem, and Misery for Every Day of the Year."

On this date in 1806, we look at the particularly grim story of Maharani Raj Rajeshwari Devi, the Queen Consort of Nepal.

Following the death of her husband, the Nepalese forced Maharani into practicing the ancient ritual of sati, in which a widow is bound to her husband's funeral pyre and burned alive.