{
  "bookName": "History of Christianity in India: Source Materials",
  "authorName": "M. K. Kuriakose",
  "publisherName": "Indian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge",
  "publicationYear": 2011,
  "chapterNumber": 76,
  "chapterName": "1820. Rammohun Roy on Sati and the Defense of Women",
  "pageFrom": 95,
  "pageTo": 97,
  "pages": [
    {
      "pageNumber": 95,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n95\nworks in the English language, till Sungskritu with its dialects shalk\nbe enriched with the most valuable works on science, morality and.\nreligion which the English language possesses.\n75. LETTER OF MUNRO TO BAILY (1818 A.D.)\nThis letter, dated Nagercoil, 23rd May 1818, from the British\nResident, Col. Munro, to the C.M.S. missionary, Rev. Baily, dis-.\ncusses the objectives of the C.M.S. college, and various desirable\nchanges to be instituted among the Syrian Christians. Cited in\nP. Cheriyan, The Malabar Syrians and the Church Missionary Society.\n1816-1846, Appendix A, Letter No. 25, pp. 364-365.\n..All priests must, must, of course, be educated at the College previ-\nously to their ordination, and the laity should also to the greatest:\npracticable extent receive instruction there. All this will in a\nprimary degree depend upon your exertions and I am satisfied that\nyou will spare no efforts to render the College eminently conducive\nto the general and early improvement of the Syrians. I hope that\nyou continue your endeavours to introduce the English language\namong the branches of study at the College. This is an object of\ngreat importance, and claims your serious consideration. The\ntranslation of the English Liturgy is another object of primary\nimportance, for I think if it were well translated it might, without\nany difficulty, be substituted in all the churches for their present\nforms of worship. You will of course gradually prepare the minds\nof the Syrians by a reference to the Scriptures to abandon the.\nseven sacraments, the Mass, and other remnants of Roman Catholic\nusage...\n76. RAMMOHUN ROY ON SATI AND THE DEFENCE OF\nWOMEN (1820 A.D.)\nRaja Rammohun Roy, the Bengali reformer who worked closely\nwith William Carey in the effort to have sati made illegal, here describes\nthe arguments advanced by both sides in meetings held on the subject\nin 1818 and 1820. The opponent' of sati reflects the views of Ram-\nmohun Roy. If will be noted that the argument centres around the\nquestion of whether women are worthy to outlive their husbands.\nThe complete document is found in The English Works of Raja Ram-\nmohun Roy, pp. 359-360.\nSection IX\nAdvocate. I alluded, in page 18, line 18, to the real reason for\nour anxiety to persuade widows to follow their husbands, and for-\nour endeavours to burn them pressed down with ropes; viz., that\nwomen are by nature of inferior understanding, without resolution,,.",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 96,
      "ocrText": "96\nHISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA\nunworthy of trust, subject to passions, and void of virtuous know-\nledge; they, according to the precepts of the sastra, are not allowed\nto marry again after the demise of their husbands, and consequently\ndespair at once of all worldly pleasures; hence it is evident, that\ndeath to these unfortunate widows is preferable to existence; for\nthe great difficulty which a widow may experience by living a purely\nascetic life, as prescribed by the Sastras, is obvious; therefore, if\nshe do not perform concremation, it is probably that she may be\nguilty of such acts as may bring disgrace upon her paternal and\nmaternal relations and those that may be connected with her\nhusband. Under these circumstances, we instruct them from their\nearly life in the idea of concremation, holding out to them heavenly\nenjoyments in company with their husbands, as well as their beati-\ntude of their relations, both by birth and marriage, and their repu-\ntation in this world. From this many of them, on the death of\ntheir husbands, become desirous of accompanying them; but to\nremove every chance of their trying to escape from the blazing fire,\nin burning them we first tie them down to the pile.\nOpponent. The reason you have now assigned for burning\nwidows alive is indeed your true motive, as we are well aware;\nbut the faults which you have imputed to women are not planted\nin their constitution by nature; it would be, therefore, grossly\ncriminal to condemn that sex to death merely from precaution.\nBy ascribing to them all sorts of improper conduct, you have indeed\nsuccessfully persuaded the Hindu community to look down upon\nthem as contemptible and mischievous creatures, whence they have\nbeen subjected to constant miseries. I have, therefore, to offer\na few remarks on this head.\nWomen are in general inferior to men in bodily strength and\nenergy; consequently the male part of the community, taking\nadvantage of their corporeal weakness, have denied to them those\nexcellent merits that they are entitled to by nature, and afterwards\nthey are apt to say that women are naturally incapable of acquiring\nthose merits. But if we give the subject consideration, we may\neasily ascertain whether or not your accusation against them is\nconsistent with justice. As to their inferiority in point of under-\nstanding, when did you ever afford them a fair opportunity of\nexhibiting their natural capacity? How then can you accuse them\nof want of understanding? If, after instruction in knowledge and\nwisdom, a person cannot comprehend or retain what has been\ntaught to him, we may consider him as deficient; but as you keep\nwomen generally void of education and acquirements, you cannot,\ntherefore, in justice pronounce on their inferiority...\nSecondly, you charge them with want of resolution, at which\nI feel exceedingly surprised for we constantly perceive, in a",
      "status": "completed"
    },
    {
      "pageNumber": 97,
      "ocrText": "SOURCE MATERIALS\n97\ncountry where the name of death makes the male shudder, that the\nfemale, from her firmness of mind, offers to burn with the corpse\nof her deceased husband; and yet you accuse those women of\ndeficiency in point of resolution.\nThirdly, with regard to their trustworthiness, let us look minutely\ninto the conduct of both sexes, and we may be enabled to ascertain\nwhich of them is the most frequently guilty of betraying friends.\nIf we enumerate such women in each village or town as have been\ndeceived by men, and such men as have been betrayed by women,\nI presume that the number of the deceived women would be found\nten times greater than that of the betrayed men. Men are, in general,\nable to read and write, and manage public affairs by which means\nthey easily promulgate such faults as women occasionally commit,\nbut never consider as criminal the misconduct of men towards\nwomen...\nIn the fourth place, with respect to their subjection to the\npassions, this may be judged of by the custom of marriage as to\nthe respective sexes; for one man may marry two or three, some-\ntimes even ten wives and upwards; while a woman, who marries but\none husband, desires at his death to follow him, forsaking all wordly\nenjoyments, or to remain leading the austere life of an ascetic.\nFifthly, the accusation of their want of virtuous knowledge is\nan injustice. Observe what pain, what slighting, what contempt,\nand what affiictions their virtue enables them to support! How\nmany Kulin Brahmins are there who marry ten or fifteen wives for\nthe sake of money, that never see the greater number of them after\nthe day of marriage, and visit others only three or four times in the\ncourse of their life. Still amongst those women, most, even\nwithout seeing or receiving any support from their husbands, living\ndependent on their fathers or brothers, and suffering much distress,\ncontinue to preserve their virtue; and when Brahmins, or those of\nother tribes, bring their wives to live with them, what misery do\nthe women most suffer? At marriage the wife is recognised as half\nof her husband, but in after-conduct they are treated worse than\ninferior animals. For the woman is employed to the work of a\nslave in the house, such as, in her turn, to clean the place very early\nin the morning, whether cold or wet, to scour the dishes, to wash\nthe floor, to cook night and day, to prepare and serve food for her\nhusband These are facts occuring every day, and not to be\ndenied. What I lament is, that, seeing the women thus dependent\nand exposed to every misery, you feel for them no compassion, that\nmight exempt them from being tied down and burnt to death.\nH.C.I.-7",
      "status": "completed"
    }
  ]
}