Jauhar, sometimes spelled Jowhar or Juhar, was an indian practice of mass self-immolation by women, in the Indian subcontinent, to avoid capture, enslavement and rape by an invading army, when facing certain defeat during a war. Some reports of jauhar mention women committing self-immolation along with their children. This practice was historically observed in northwest regions of India, with most famous jauhars in recorded history occurring during wars between Hindu Rajput kingdoms in Rajasthan and the opposing Muslim armies. However jauhar is performed during war, usually when there was no chance of victory. The practice was accompanied by saka, or a last stand in battle.

The term jauhar often connotes both jauhar-immolation and saka ritual. During Jauhar, Hindu women entered with their children and valuables in a massive fire, to avoid capture and abuse in the face of inescapable military defeat. Simultaneously or thereafter, the men would ritually march to the battlefield expecting certain death, which in the regional tradition is called saka. This practice was intended to show that their honour was valued more highly than their lives.

Jauhar by Hindu kingdoms has been documented by Muslim historians of the Delhi Sultanate, and the Mughal Empire. Among the oft cited example of jauhar has been the mass suicide committed in 1303 CE by the women of Chittorgarh fort in Rajasthan, faced with muslim invaders of Khalji dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. The jauhar phenomenon was also observed in other parts of India, such as in the Kampili kingdom of northern Karnataka when it fell in 1327 to Delhi Sultanate armies.

There is an annual celebration of heroism called the Jauhar Mela in Chittorgarh where the ancestors are commemorated.