{ "book_metadata": { "book_name": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials", "book_author": "M. K. Kuriakose", "publisher": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge", "published_on": "2011" }, "chunks": [ { "chunk_index": 1, "chapter_name": "1830. Address to Bentinck Following the Abolition of Sati", "page_numbers": [ 115 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00139-875128eb19d70d8f4bc1.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Address to Bentinck", "chunk_data": "85. ADDRESS TO BENTINCK FOLLOWING THE ABOLITION OF SATI (1830 A.D.)\nIn 1830 the English Governor-General, William Bentinck, abolished by law the practice of sati (widow burning) within British territories. This address, believed to have been written by Raja Rammohun Roy, is an expression of appreciation for this action. Cited in Jogendra Chander Ghose, ed., The English Works of Raja Rammohun Roy, pp. 283-286.", "time": { "start_year": 1830, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1830, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1830 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "William Bentinck", "Raja Rammohun Roy", "Jogendra Chander Ghose" ], "places": [ "British territories" ], "event": "William Bentinck abolished the practice of sati by law, prompting an appreciative address believed to have been written by Raja Rammohun Roy.", "tags": [ "Politics", "Religion", "Social Reform" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 2, "chapter_name": "1830. Address to Bentinck Following the Abolition of Sati", "page_numbers": [ 115 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00139-875128eb19d70d8f4bc1.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Gratitude for Protection", "chunk_data": "My Lord,\nWith hearts filled with the deepest gratitude, and impressed with the utmost reverence, we, the undersigned native inhabitants of Calcutta and its vicinity, beg to be permitted to approach your Lordship, to offer personally our humble but warmest acknowledgements for the invaluable protection which your Lordship's government has recently afforded to the lives of the Hindoo female part of your subjects, and for your humane and successful exertions in rescuing us for ever, from the gross stigma hitherto attached to our character as wilful murderers of females, and zealous promoters of the practice of suicide.", "time": { "start_year": 1830, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1830, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1830 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "William Bentinck", "Raja Rammohun Roy" ], "places": [ "Calcutta" ], "event": "The native inhabitants of Calcutta expressed gratitude to William Bentinck for protecting Hindu women and ending the stigma associated with sati.", "tags": [ "Social Reform", "Religion", "Politics" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 3, "chapter_name": "1830. Address to Bentinck Following the Abolition of Sati", "page_numbers": [ 115, 116 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00139-875128eb19d70d8f4bc1.webp", "raw\\pages\\00140-46ce4ca114d3ba0bf105.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Condemnation of Sati", "chunk_data": "Excessive jealousy of their female connections, operating on the breasts of Hindu princes, rendered those despots regardless of the common bonds of society, and of their incumbent duty as protectors of the weaker sex, insomuch that with a view to prevent every possibility of their widows forming subsequent attachments, they availed themselves of their arbitrary power, and under the first impressions of sorrow or despair, immediately after the demise of their husbands. The system of female destruction, being admirably suited to the selfish and servile disposition of the populace, has been eagerly followed by them, in defiance of the most sacred authorities, such as the Upanishads or the principal parts of the Vedas, and the Bhagavad Gita, as well as of the direct commandment of Manu, the first and the greatest of all the legislators, conveyed in the following words: 'Let a widow continue till death forgiving all injuries, performing austere duties, avoiding every sensual pleasure.'\nWhile in fact fulfilling the suggestions of their jealousy they pretended to justify this hideous practice by quoting some passage from authorities of evidently inferior weight, sanctioning the wilful ascent of a widow on the flaming pile of her husband, as if they were offering such female sacrifices in obedience to the dictates of the Sastras and not from the influence of jealousy.", "time": { "start_year": 1830, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1830, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1830 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Hindu princes", "Manu" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The address attributed the continuation of sati to the jealousy of Hindu rulers and condemned its justification through selective religious authorities.", "tags": [ "Religion", "Social Reform", "Gender" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 4, "chapter_name": "1830. Address to Bentinck Following the Abolition of Sati", "page_numbers": [ 116 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00140-46ce4ca114d3ba0bf105.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Abuse of Religious Authority", "chunk_data": "It is, however, very fortunate that the British government under whose protection the lives of both the males and females of India have been happily placed by providence, has, after diligent inquiry, ascertained that even those inferior authorities, permitting wilful ascent by a widow to the flaming pile, have been practically set aside, and that, in gross violation of their language and spirit, the relatives of widows have in the burning of those infatuated females, almost invariably used to fasten them down on the pile, and heap over them larger quantities of wood and other materials adequate to the prevention of their escape—an outrage on humanity which has been frequently perpetrated under the indirect sanction of native officers, undeservedly employed for the security of life and preservation of peace and tranquillity.", "time": { "start_year": 1830, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1830, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1830 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "British government", "Native officers" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "The British government found that widows were often forcibly restrained and burned, with the abuse sometimes occurring under the indirect sanction of native officers.", "tags": [ "Social Reform", "Government", "Religion" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 5, "chapter_name": "1830. Address to Bentinck Following the Abolition of Sati", "page_numbers": [ 116 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00140-46ce4ca114d3ba0bf105.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Widows Escaping Sati", "chunk_data": "In many instances, in which the vigilance of the magistrate has deterred the native officers of police from indulging their own inclination, widows have either made their escape from the pile after being partially burnt, or retracted their resolution to burn when brought to the awful task, to the mortifying disappointment of the instigators; while in some instances the resolution to die has been retraced, on pointing out to the widows the impropriety of their intended undertaking, and on promising them safety and maintenance during life, notwithstanding the severe reproaches liable thereby to be heaped on them by their relatives and friends.", "time": { "start_year": 1830, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1830, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1830 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "Widows", "Magistrates", "Native police officers" ], "places": [ "India" ], "event": "Magistrates' vigilance enabled some widows to escape sati or withdraw their decision to die when offered protection and lifelong maintenance.", "tags": [ "Social Reform", "Women", "Government" ] } }, { "chunk_index": 6, "chapter_name": "1830. Address to Bentinck Following the Abolition of Sati", "page_numbers": [ 116 ], "image_paths": [ "raw\\pages\\00140-46ce4ca114d3ba0bf105.webp" ], "chunk_title": "Bentinck Protects Widows", "chunk_data": "In consideration of circumstances so disgraceful in themselves, and so incompatible with the principles of British rule, your Lordship in Council, fully impressed with the duties required of you by justice and humanity, has deemed it incumbent on you, for the honour of the British name, to come to the resolution, that the lives of your female Hindoo subjects should be henceforth more efficiently protected; that the heinous sin of cruelty to females may no longer be committed, and that the most ancient and purest system of Hindoo religion should not any longer be set at nought by the Hindoos themselves. The magistrates, in consequence, are, we understand, positively ordered to execute the resolution of government by all possible means", "time": { "start_year": 1830, "start_month": null, "start_date": null, "end_year": 1830, "end_month": null, "end_date": null, "time_display": "1830 AD" }, "meta": { "people": [ "William Bentinck", "Magistrates" ], "places": [ "British India" ], "event": "Bentinck's Council resolved to protect Hindu women more effectively and ordered magistrates to enforce the government's abolition of sati.", "tags": [ "Government", "Social Reform", "Religion" ] } } ] }