Banda, May 27: If devotees of Ramkumari, who mounted husband Jageswar Tiwari’s funeral pyre three weeks ago, manage to build a shrine to her, it would be the sixth sati temple in this Uttar Pradesh district.

Fear of police could have dried up the stream of worshippers to the Banhudarhi sati sthal where the 70-year-old burnt to death on May 7. But local sentiment for the custom is so strong that people flare up at the slightest word that is said out of place.

Little surprise, then, that five sati temples are flourishing in this backward Bundelkhand district.

The biggest is in Mahorbar village in Barobarkhurd block, at which every bride is expected to get herself blessed before setting foot in her husband’s house.

No number of probes chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav orders ? he has asked for a magisterial inquiry into Ramkumari’s death ? will likely dampen the villagers’ devotion to these women. At the temple in Barobar village in Jari block, people line up after evening aarti to listen to songs dedicated to them.

This is a relatively new temple built to 17-year-old housewife Javitri Devi who jumped into the funeral pyre of her 25-year-old husband Ramakant Tripathi in July 1989. Ramakant, an engineering student, and his brother were killed over a land dispute.

“We have at least seven songs dedicated to this woman. These are sung by the group put together by the villagers,” Jyotirmay Awasthi, a village priest, said.

Compared to Barobar, Mahorbar temple has a much longer history, going back to at least 150 years. It was built to an 18-year-old who committed sati after people raised eyebrows about her relations with a sadhu with whom she sang songs.

A third temple in Bagehata village in Baberu block is as many as 200 years old. Little is known about it except that villagers dedicated it to a 12-year-old Kurmi girl who perished in her ageing husband’s pyre.

Not far from Bagehata, in Pangara village of Mahua block, is another temple. It was built in honour of 35-year-old Gayatri Devi, whose husband Abadh Behari Mishra came from a moneyed Brahmin family that owned 80 bighas of land. She walked into her husband’s pyre in July 1983.

The fifth temple at Bisanda village in Bisanda block is dedicated to Dasiya Devi, 60, who ended her life with husband Venkatraman Singh, 82, in 1981. They owned 60 bighas of land, but were childless. Part of their money has been handed to the trust that manages this temple.

A non-government organisation, Vanangana, which has been working in Banda for five years, said it was time people got facts about the custom right. “Many deaths could be acts of desperation by distraught widows in this backward region,” an activist said.

Several women’s groups, including the All India Democratic Women’s Organisation, have demanded a probe into Ramkumari’s death and action against those who could have driven her to death.

“I will not be letting go of anyone who might have been responsible for her death,” Mulayam Singh said.