SATI – WIDOW BURNING IN INDIAN SOCIETY
Xavier James L.S.
INTRODUCTION
Sati (suttee) is burning alive the widow of the deceased man in the funeral pyre. In Hindu religion the custom is to cremate the dead body after one’s death. Since it is a male dominated society the men thought that the wives are their property. So if a man dies then it is obligatory for the widow of that man jump into the fire of her dead husband and die. It was considered to be a holy act until some sensible people looked into the matter and tried to reform this social evil in the name of religion. If the woman dies the man could live on and marry another. Many thought that widow burning was inhuman act and tried to bring some changes. The recent case was on 4th September 1987 at Deorala in Sikar Dt., Rajastan. Roop Kunwar a young Rajput girl committed sati at the funeral pyre of her husband. Some people wanted to stop the glorification of this evil. The government promulgated Sati prevention Ordinance on 1st October 1987 stating that sati is a crime. But some youth took out a procession favouring the act of sati. Some traditional groups who wanted sati to be prevalent instigated them. Hinduism is a nonviolent religion. How can it be so violent with human beings in the matter of Sati? Lord William Bentinck was a social reformer and so he wanted to abolish this social evil during the British rule in India. To some extent he succeeded in doing so. Sati literally means a good woman or widow and Sattee means sahamarana – dying together, Ammarana – without dead body. In fact we cannot trace the beginnings of this practise in the Hindu Scriptures. It comes from the social life and tradition of Hindus. There is no vedic proof and even in Ramayana and Mahabharata no woman laid down her life for her dead husband. In Russia among the Volga tribes this tradition was present also in some Egyptian and Chinese tribes. Mount Stuart Elphinston was then governor of Bombay had a decisive voice in the formation of policy on suttee. He was held in high esteem for his statesmanship and mature understanding of Indian life and customs.
CONTRIBUTION OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES
Evangelical movement was perhaps the most striking force in the second half of 18th century. It had a profound influence on British society and politics. Christianity challenged the English law. They attacked virulently the social abuses prevailed in India. Christian missionaries played an important role in the abolition of suttee. It is a pity that the historians often forget the good things done by the missionaries and hold on to the matter conversion. The missionaries created a climate of opinion favourable for the abolition of suttee, which was inevitable. In 1803, 25,000 women were burnt in Bengal. The Baptist missionaries condemned suttee as a crime and regarded as duty to suppress it. Carey was a faithful, simple pastor who was deeply committed to the welfare of the Human Society. Missionaries viewed suttee as an act against God, Human and Nature. In order to concientize the college youth they had debate on the issue of Sati as a part of academic programme. The Main contribution of the missionaries was propagating the value of life. But the government was doubtful about their motives as it is today. When Bantinck passed the legislative enactment on suttee Carey acted promptly writing that the first time the Ganges flowed unblooded to the sea.
WILLIAM BENTINCK
He was a social reformer and had lot of concern for the social life of Indians. He was interested to know about the practice of suttee even before coming to India as the governor general. Many learned people supported from the Hindu groups. Bentinck stressed public opinion as a council factor for his decision to prohibit suttee since he wanted to use it. Bentinck had the full support of his counselors and passed Regulation XVII on 4th December 1829. It was declared that the practice of suttee, burying or burning alive the widows of Hindus, whether the sacrifice be voluntary on her part or not. It was illegal and punishable by the criminal court for the crime committed. Sir Charles Edward Grey, the chief justice of Supreme Court had prepared the draft of regulation. For his interest in the social reformation he had to face controversies in India and England. But thanks to the initiative taken by him to abolish suttee from this land. We know from the history that Dalhousie completed Bentinck’s mission.
RAJA RAM MOHAN ROY
He toiled hard and suffered humiliation from his own countrymen for the cause of abolishing suttee. His interest in abolition of suttee was aroused by the death of his elder brother Jagmohan in 1811 where his widow sacrificed herself on the funeral pyre. This episode compelled Roy not to rest until the practice was abolished. He took keen interest in social and educational reforms. He founded Atmiya Sabha to impart the value of human person. He was the man of liberal outlook. Roy condemned suttee as an act of an inferior kind. He considered that woman to lead a life of austerity and chastity to self-immolation. He suffered greatly at the hands of fundamentalist. Orthodoxy had strong hold on the social and religious life of Hindus. Roy had the challenge to swim against his contemporary currents of social and cultural ideas. He was the man with pretty extraordinary intellect imbued with the idea of reforms. Roy was very supportive to Bentinck in abolishing suttee from Indian soil.
PEOPLE’S RESPONSE
In Bombay and Madras presidencies Suttee was not a problem, whereas in Bengal it was a severe problem. The orthodox Hindus thought that abolishing suttee was a severe attack on Hinduism. When some people led by Roy were for abolishing this inhuman acts and the Christians encouraged and congratulated them. When Karan Singh, the chief of Ahmednagar died his 5 queens were about to commit suttee. When Mr. James Erskine, British Agent came to know he rushed to the spot. But alas they were immersed in the alcohol and dragged into the river. Once Richard Shakespeare stated ‘I abstain form injuring any animal and ask the state to abstain from allowing its women to be murdered’. Suttee was very common among the Rajputs. It was a point of honour to commit suttee. It was a custom that Rajputs’ wives, concubines and slaves all committed self-immolation. The men wanted to get rid of the Rajput widows. In fact Indian society was not attuned to any sort of change at this juncture. There needed to be a lot of value education and awareness programme that could be done through proper education. Raja Ram Mohan Roy had the intention of reviving the educational system in India so that many would be aware of this inhuman act and value of human life. Only a small portion of the population of the country was effected by suttee, not all are involved. Those who advocated abolition of suttee would increase the number of victims, whereas those who were in favour of keeping up the tradition merely decrease the number.
WHY DO HINDUS BURN WOMEN
The rite of suttee originated in the upper strata of society amidst the kings and aristocratic people. However once custom takes root, it becomes a part of social order. A widow seldom inspired any sympathy and had to lead miserable life. She bore the insults and taunts of the relatives. She was held guilty for the death of her husband. She suffered social ostracism. She had to go about without ornaments, broke bangles, shaved her head, move around with white sari, and sleep on the floor. Women were socially dead after the death of their husbands and were thought to be polluting. Hence the concern was for purity. The priestly class, the Brahmins encouraged and motivated this social evil to exist for their livelihood. After this dramatic crime the Brahmin would look for the melted gold, silver and copper, which was their earning. The widow was utterly in a helpless state. They were hardly cared for and there was no maintenance for the rest of their life. Many also had their eye on the property of the widow. To understand how and why woman burnt herself it is necessary to reconstruct the circumstances under which she was rushed to the pile. When the man dies, there is gloom. The widow suffers the most. She is stricken with grief. She is unable to cry and absolutely dumb. She has no time to think or reflect. On this occasion, the family members Brahmins and crowd take advantage of this helpless situation. They push her into the fire. If she cannot bear the heat and tries to come out of the fire then the family members beat her up and push her back into the fire. She was the easy target of abuse, fun and disparagement. It is a pity that often the children lose their both parents and become orphan.
CONCLUSION
In this way this inhuman act was performed in the name of religious tradition. It was an instrument of the priestly class such as Brahmins in order to make a business out of it. This deprives of women their human dignity and right to live. The glorification of sati is a crime. If out of love for husband wife has to die, why not the husbands die? This is very vivid witness for the inequality and male domination. The question to be asked here is whether she would become a good wife by dying? Is she not forgoing or forced to forgo the responsibility of taking care of her children? Does not the society commit a crime in making the children orphans? There are some good Hindus like Swami Agnivesh work for this cause. Thanks be to some good people that they work for the dignity of human person.
* The main source to this work is Dr. V.N.Datta, Sati – Widow burning in Indian society.
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