1. SATI
“TRUE WIFE”

2. Roopkuvarba Kanwar (c. 1969
- 1987) was a Rajput woman
who was burned alive at
Deorala village of Sikar
district in Rajasthan, India. At
the time, she was 18 years old
and had been married for
eight months to Maal Singh
Shekhawat, who had died a
day earlier at age 24.

3. The mantra is inaccurately interpreted as:
‘Choosing her husband's world’ is often
interpreted as Wife is advised to join the
Dead Husband in afterlife in next world.
So she must burn herself in funeral pyre
of her husband.
Atharvaveda 18.3.1
Choosing her husband's world, O man, this
woman lays herself down beside thy
lifeless body. Preserving faithfully the
ancient custom. Bestow upon here both
wealth and offspring.

4. The correct interpretation of this mantra is:
This woman has chosen her husband’s world earlier. Today she is sitting
beside your dead body. Now bestow upon her both wealth and offspring
for the rest of her life to continue her afterlife in this world.

5. In the very next Mantra
of Atharvaveda 18.3.2
Clearly speaks to women
to rise besides the dead
body of her husband and
start worldly affairs in this
living world.
A famous passage from
Rigveda 10.18.8
addresses the widow
and says -
Rise up, abandon this
dead man, and rejoin the
living.

7. •
The first new European account of
India in centuries was by the Venetian
traveler, Marco Polo who visited the
country. His mythical image of India as
“a land of miracles and monsters of
gold and heroism, Marco Polo made a
brief factual reference to Sati.”
MARCO POLO
JOHN GROSE
John Grose, a writer in East
India Company attributed the
“Hindu women is in affection and
generation for their husbands. No
women are remarkable for their
conjugal fidelity.”

9. Some foreign
accounts of Sati
Dutch traveler J.S Stavorinus
(1770 AD)
Sati at the shores of Ganges
“Her feet appeared from
between the firewood on the
side where I stood and I had
an opportunity of observing
them, because a little breeze
playing upon that side,
cleared it of the flame and
smoke. I paid particular
attention to her, in order to
discover whether any
convulsive motion agitated
her feet, but they remained
immovable, in the midst of
conflagration”.

10. Immolations witnessed by Rev. William
Ward
“When the fire began to scorch this poor woman, she contrived to disentangle
herself from the dead body, and creeping from under the pile, hid herself
among some brush-wood. In a little time, it was discovered that there was only
one body on the pile. The relations immediately took the alarm, and searched
for the poor wretch; the son soon dragged her forth, and insisted that she
should throw herself on the pile again, or drown or hang herself. She pleaded
for her life at the hands of her own son, and declared that she could not
embrace so horrid a death — but she pleaded in vain: the son urged, that he
should lose his cast.”

11. Rev. William
Ward’s
attack on the
Hindus in a
speech he
delivered at
Liverpool
(Dubois 199
7: 95 - 110)
• The Rev. says “A Hindoo female is, in fact,
a mere animal kept for burthen or
slaughter in the house of her husband."
• To this Abbe J.A. Dubois replies how
women in ancient India were treated
well. Only a small part of the country
practiced the social evil Sati .
• “In fact, among the Hindoos the person
of a woman is sacred. She cannot be
touched in public by a man, even with the
end of the fingers. How abject so ever
may be her condition, she is never
addressed by any body, not excepting the
persons of the highest rank, but under
the respectful name of mother (Amma).”

12. Some accounts of widow immolation
• Several years ago Ram-Nathu the second Sungskritu pundit in the college of
Fort William, saw thirteen women burn themselves with one Mooktua-ramu of
Oola, near Shantee-pooru.
• Gopee-nathu, a bramhun employed in the Serampore printing-office, was
informed by his nephew, that in the year 1799, he saw thirty seven females
burnt alive with the remains of Unutu-ramu, a bramhun of Bagna-para,
near Nudeeya.

13. • In the year 1812, a kooleenu bramhun, who had married twenty-
five women, died at Choona-khalee. Thirteen died during his
life-time; the remaining twelve perished with him on
the funeral pile, leaving thirty children to deplore the fatal
effects of this horrid system.
• Instances of children of eight or ten years of age thus devoting
themselves are not uncommon. About the year 1804, a child
eight years old was burnt with the dead body of Huree-nathu,
a bramhun of Elo, near Calcutta.
• Women eighty years old and upwards sometimes burn with
their husbands.

14. STATE OF ENGLISH
SOCIETY AT HOME
AND IN INDIA
• In the eighteenth century, the general
quality of life was low and cynicism
about religion and church palpable at
all levels.
• In the absence of an effective
police, most pillaged towns at will.
• People were threatened with gallows.
The pillory was a common
punishment.
• Problems faced by women in society
are
• Low morality and domestic violence.

15. THE EVANGELICAL MOVEMENT
In the early 19th century,
however it suddenly
assumed the appearance of
a pervasive practice, which
demanded intervention by
the colonial government.
Towards the close of the
18th century, the
Evangelists began to make
inroads into India
A movement known as
evangelicalism spread
among the upper classes in
Britain partly in response
to the evolution in France.

16. THE
EVANGELICAL-
UTILISATION
ALLIANCE
The evangelical attack on
India was fortified by an
alliance with the utilitarians,
who had emerged as an
influential group in Britain.
The utilitarian James Mill,
attempted to define an idiom
for the British empire to
replace the conservative trend.
Mill's "HISTORY OF BRITISH
INDIA" represented the
starting point for the
"theoretical repositioning" of
India in relation to Europe
following the growth of
industrial capitalism.
The utilitarian became closely
associated with Indian affairs.

17. BAPTISTS IN BENGAL
Till the 19th century, the East India Company had displayed little interest in
sponsoring missionary activity in its territories in India.
The first protest missionary in Bengal was the Royal Danish Mission.
William Carey, William Ward, Joshua Marshman - 3 early Baptist missionaries in
Bengal, popularly known as serampore trio, all found refuge in the Danish colony.
The government in India took immediate steps to missionary activities.
In 1813,several missionaries from different societies were ordered to quit India
without delay.

18. MISSIONARIES AND THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST SATI
PHASE 1
• In 1803,Carey with his colleagues at Serampore and Fort William
college,attempted to collect date on
on the prevalance of sati.
• They were to gather information on the number of widows who had immolated
themselves in the previous
12 months,their age and the number of children they had left behind.
VARYING RESULTS OF MISSIONARY SURVEY
• From actual enquiry at all villages and towns for 50miles around Calcutta it
appears that no less than
438 widows have been burnt with their husbands within a year.

19. REGISTRATION BY THE
GOVERNMENT 1815-1828
• The registration of the cases of Sati by the govt began in 1815 and conituned till
1828.
• It covered three presidencies of Bengal , Bombay and Madras .The data collected
by the govt revealed a curious picture . In the years between 1815 and 1825,
6,632 cases were reported from three presidencies
thes an astonishing 5,997[ie;90.4%] occurred in Bengal.
• In Madras,it was less common in central region .In Bombay presidency,
instances of widow immolation
were even more uncommon than in Madras.

20. GEORGE UDNY- The missionaries placed
the data before George Udny. Udny’s
submission was “the first official notice
regarding which had appeared in the records
of government”.
• Sati was the first political issue in which
British women were directly involved to
gather support for their luckless “sisters”
in India.

21. KULINISM
• The high incidence of sati in Bengal was linked in same accounts to Kulin
Brahmin
Polygamy, teads to polygamy,with a husband having as many as 50 wives,the
majority of whom he never saw or maintained.
• The geographical distribution of sati also did not substantiate the connection
with Kulin polygamy.
• DAYABHAGA SCHOOL
• The frequency of sati in Bengal was also attributed to the Dayabhaga
school,associated with Jimutavahana,a brahmin from Radha.
• Jimutavahana introduced Dayabhaga to increased only in the decades
preceeding its
its aboltion.
• Dayabhaga also does not explain the great variance in the incidents of sati in
the different districts and cities of Bengal.

22. MISSIONARIES AND THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST SATI
PHASE-2
• The entire colonial debate on sati centered on figure
provided by the missionaries and the govt,even set of
which suffered from serious flaws.
• But the figures seem Seldom to have been questioned
during the course of campaign the Evangelicals and
missionaries unleashed.
• Several public meetings were held in Britain,in 1827 a
convention was held at York at which only supporters of
aboltion were permitted to speak.

23. ABOLITION OF SATI
• The efforts of the missionaries began to produce results elsewhere . In 1812, Thomas Fowell Buxton,
M.P for Weymoutb and an important leader of the Clapham sect,moved the House of Commons for the
publication of all correspondence relating to Sati.the proposal was accepted.
• In 1821,that sati was placed on Parliament’s aganda .Most speakers were against immediate abolition.
• That year, Parliament issued the first Blue book on the subject .Sati was again debated in 1823.
• On 29th April 1813,the government issued guidelines to all police offices that certain cases of immolation
were “contrary to HINDU LAW and perfectly inconsistent with every principle of Humanity”. Sati would be
deemed illegal if the widow was pregnant, not yer 16yrs of age,under the influence of days had a small child ,
Or if her decision was not voluntary.

24. LORD WILLIAM BENTICK
• The appointment of William Bentick as Governer General gave momentum to the campaign against
sati.He decided an abolition even before his arrival in India.
• He consulted 49 military offices on the effect abolition would have on their men.Twenty four supported
immediate abolition.He also consulted H.H.Wilson and Ram Mohan Roy both of whom felt an
immediate born was uncalled for.
• In may 1829,the Bengal missionaries sent a long petition to Bentink
urging him to abolish Sati. Sati was abolished in December 1829. As sati
there was little protest on its official prohibiting .

25. SUPPORT OF ABOLITION AMONG HINDUS
• Support of abolition among hindus tended to be underplayed in most discussions,which focused on
the role of missionaries and William Bentick.
• As early as 1817,Mrityunjaya Vidyalankar forms Pandit at fort William had prepared a tract in
which he argued that the practice had no shastric sanction ,and that an ascetic life had greater
merit than immolation.
• He argued that the ultimate goal of all Hindus was selfless absorption in a divine essence, a union
that could not be attained by an act like immolation.
• A steadless opponent of widow immolation was Raja Ram Mohan Roy. In 1818,he argued that sati
had no religious approval. He succeeded in bringing together members of many castes ,though most
of his active supporters against sati were brahmins.
• The next phase of Ram Mohan Roy’s campaign started with the publication of the weekly news
paper “Sambada kaumadi ”in 1821. He was also active in organizing meetings and debates on this
issue.

26. LEADING INDIANS IN THE FOREFRONT OF THE
CAMPAIGN AGAINST SATI
•
KALINATH ROY CHOWDHARY
DWARAKANATH TAGORE
PRASANNA KUMAR TAGORE

35. Raja Ram Mohan Roy the founder of the
Brahmo Samaj (one of the first Indian socio-
religious reform movements) was a great
scholar and an independent thinker. He was a
religious and social reformer and is known as
the ‘Father of Modern India’ or ‘Father of the
Bengal Renaissance’.
He went to Varanasi and studied the Vedas, the
Upanishads and Hindu philosophy deeply. He
studied Christianity and Islam as well.
He campaigned for rights for women, including
the right for widows to remarry, and the right
for women to hold property. His efforts led to
the abolition of Sati in 1829 by Lord William
Bentinck, the then Governor-General of India
and opposed the practice of polygamy.

36. IshwarChandraVidyasagarfoughtagainstthe
orthodoxsystemofimposingsevererestrictions
onwidows.Widowswererequiredtoshavetheir
headsandwearwhiteallthetime.Theywere
alsonotallowedtomoveoutsidetheirhomes
andhadtoleadalifeofharddomesticlaborand
semi-starvation.Vidyasagarfeltoutragedatthis
injusticeandadvocatedwidowremarriage,
whichwasalsonotpermittedatthattime.
Sometimes,teenageandpre-teengirlswere
marriedofftooldmenandconsequentlywere
widowedataveryyoungage.Polygamywasalso
practiced.VidyasagarusedancientHindu
scripturestoprovethatwidowremarriagewas
sanctionedandalsothatpolygamywasnot
endorsedbythescriptures.Hepressedthe
BritishauthoritiestopasstheHinduWidows’
RemarriageActin1856.Itwaspassedduringthe
EastIndiaCompanyrule.

37. SATI-AN INFREQUENT
OCCURRENCE
• Several contempary observes had noted that noted that sati
was not a common custom.There waas even the interesting case
of a traveller.Anquetil-Du perron who admitted that he had
incoporated a fake account of sati in his narrative to enchance
his popularity of his work.
• Many travellers such as Franciso Pelsart and Peitro Della
Valle had declared that sati was not a pervasive pratice.
• Peitro Della Valle said that burning of women upon death of
their husbands is at their own choice to do it or not,and indeed
few only pratice it .
• Officials of the East India Company in the closing decades of
18th century affirmed that sati is not widely prevalent.They
never been an eye-witnessed to the “extraordinary sacrifice”
C.1595 – September 1630

38. • Sir John Malcom who administered Central India including Malwa (1769-
1833)noted that sati was formely prevalent in the region as was proved by
numerous sati-stones .It was most prevalent when Rajputs had power and
influence.
• Mounstuart Elphinstone who was the Governor of Bombay,disproved
suggestions that relatives encouraged the practice with a view to obtaining the
property of the widow .
• Sati was not practiced in Calcutta and even in the upper parts of Bengal
according to Willam Huggins.
• Montgomery Martin stated that in the district of Goruckpoor satiss were
honoured and many little monuments are raised over the places of sacrifice.
• In Benares also sati would be frequent but after the coming of British rule,sati
had been prohibited in the company’s dominions
• The entire colonial debate on sati centered on Bengal though Rajasthan had
emerged as a stronghold of the custom.
• Besides individual satis , mass jauhars had taken place at Chittor in
1303,1535,1568 and at Jaisalmeer .In jauhars large number of women threw
themselves into the fire as their husbands met death on the battlefield.
2 May 1769 – 30 May
1833{Sir John Malcom}
6 October 1779 – 20 Nov-
1859{MounstuartElphinston}

39. • La De Grandpe,an officer of the French Army ,observed in
towards the end of 18th century that sati is not yet
annihilated in India but it is confined to the cast of Brahmins.
• This custom prevailed mostly in the territories of the ancient
Rajas ,particulary in families of “high distinction”.But in the
territories of the english it rarely happens or it be done
secretly according to Quintin Craufurd.
• H.T Colehrooke who was a judge and later head of Sadar
Diwani Adalat said that sati was rare after he spent almost
three decades in Bengal.
May 7, 1761- Jan7,1846
{La De Grandpe}
15 June 1765 – 10 March
1837
{H.T Colehrooke }

40. • Even today , Rajasthan retains its association with
sati
• Number of sati temples in the Shekhavati region is
more and is unmatched in the rest of the country
• Widow immolation in Bengal were embellished by
Evangelicals and missionaries firstly,to gain the right
to proselytization and subsequently ,to justify their
presence and British rule in India
• The amelioration of the depressed status of Hindu
women was held to be a critical component of the
civilizing missions of the whiteman.

41. NAMAH
SHIVAYA