Self‐determined Sacrifices? Victimhood and Volition in British Constructions of Sati in the Rajput States, 1830–60

Abstract

During their encounter with sati in early nineteenth century Bengal, the British constructed an image of the Hindu widow who burned on her husband’s funeral pyre as a passive victim of a barbaric oriental practice. The imagery that they produced, which denied the widow both agency and rational engagement with the processes of sati, remains influential today and has led to those who oppose sati in the present being accused of adopting “western” attitudes. Yet this was not the only interpretation of sati to emerge from the colonial encounter. When the British experienced sati in the alternate context of the Rajput States (1830–60) their understanding of it changed subtly, as the widow was increasingly depicted as self‐determined—the perpetrator rather than the victim of sati. This article explores these shifts in British understanding, and asks what implications this alternate colonial interpretation might have for discourses on sati in contemporary India.

Keywords:

• India
• Sati
• Colonialism
• Victimhood
• Gender

Acknowledgements

This article is drawn from wider doctoral and post‐doctoral research carried out at the University of Edinburgh since 1999. I would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Board, Economic and Social Research Council, British Academy, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and Society for South Asian Studies for the various funding contributions that have made this work possible.

Notes

[1] Sati literally translates as “virtuous woman” and is used most commonly (although not exclusively) to denote the woman who burns on her husband’s funeral pyre. In the early nineteenth century the British adopted the word (spelling it suttee) to refer to the rite itself, and the word is now widely used in both contexts—for the woman and for the practice.

[2] The idea of “dharmic sati” refers to the notion that an authentic sati is a sacred supernatural event. The flames that engulf the “true” sati are believed to be a miraculous manifestation of the spiritual merit accrued by an exceptional woman, who has fulfilled her dharma (duty) by exemplary service to her husband throughout his life. In this context sati is not something the woman performs or a choice that she makes, but something that she is divinely inspired to become as the result in ultimate fulfilment of her dharma. Even among those Hindus who denounce sati as a temporal act of either suicide or murder, there are many who, like Rege, reserve space within their understanding of the rite for the exceptional possibility of the miraculous sati.

[3] It is necessary to stress at this point that it is not the intention of this article to determine whether Rajput satis were in fact any more or less “voluntary” than those of Bengal. Rather, I wish to explore why British perspectives on the subject changed and the possible implications of this for later debates.

[4] Between 1813 and 1829 the British attempted to regulate the performance of sati by ensuring it conformed to certain “scriptural” standards. Key among these was that the rite was performed with the free consent of the widow, who should not, among other things, be less than 16 years of age, pregnant, intoxicated or the mother of very young children.

[5] I say relatively unproblematic because even when the sacrifice was blatantly involuntary the perpetrators were rarely convicted of murder and often escaped with only cursory punishments on the basis that they had acted out of mistaken religious conviction.

[6] Early modern and eighteenth‐century British accounts of sati tended to have positive as well as negative aspects, recognizing the heroism of the widow as well as the cruelty of the custom. As late as 1803, Rev William Tennant, could write that satis exhibited “the most magnanimous exertion of fortitude of which history records any example… The heroic lady walks with firmness and composure to the funeral pile” (Tennant 1803: 190–91). For more on earlier interpretations of sati, see Major (2004b; 2006).

[7] Quarterly Oriental Magazine, Vol. 8, 1827, p. cxcviii.

[8] Ibid.

[9] Rev William Ward, Letter to Miss Hope of Liverpool, March 31^st 1821, in Farewell Letters to a Few Friends, p. 79.

[10] Bombay Gazette, 6^th Sept. 1834.

[11] Board’s Collections, Oriental and India Office, British Library (hereafter BC) 1506, 59097, Government Bombay to Court of Directors, 12^th Feb. 1830, C.P. Brown, Trichinopoly, 3^rd June 1829.

[12] Ibid.

[13] Parliamentary Papers on Hindu Widows (hereafter PP) 18, 1821, E. Lee Warner, 24 Pergunnahs, to W. Ewer, Lower Provinces, 18^th Dec. 1818, p. 239.

[14] For more on the relationship between sati, suicide and insanity see Major (2004a).

[15] It was said that state officials had orchestrated the immolations in order to plunder the treasury. Foreign Department Records—Political, National Archives of India (hereafter FDR‐P), 14, Eskine to Williams, 26^th Aug. 1833.

[16] BC 1540, 61224, Erskine, Gujerat to Williams, 9^th Feb. 1835.

[17] BC 1858, 78896, Lang, Mahi Caunta to Mallet, Baroda, 5^th June 1840.

[18] BC 1858, 78896, Lang, Mahi Caunta to Wallace, 6^th Dec. 1839.

[19] BC 1858, 78896, Lang, Mahi Caunta to Wallace, 6^th Dec. 1839.

[20] In which the women of a defeated city immolated themselves while their men sought death on the battlefield.

[21] BC 1540, 61224, Prithee Singh to Williams, 28^th May 1835.

[22] BC 2240, 112476, Raja Ochha to Sleeman, A.G.G. Bundlecund, 12^th July 1847.

[23] BC 1841, 77234, Political Letter from Fort William, 26^th Dec. 1839.

[24] There were, of course, also instances of families, friends or officials sincerely endeavouring to prevent immolation. My intention here is simply to show that the act of dissuasion could have multiple meanings in different circumstances, a fact only partially appreciated by the British.

[25] FDR/P 14, 31^st Oct. 1833, Eskine, Shahi Bang, to Williams, Shahi Bang, 26^th Aug. 1833.

[26] BC 2240, 112476, Sutherland, A.G.G. Rajputana, to Greathed, Marwar, 18^th Aug. 1846.

[27] There was a case in British India in the early twentieth century when a woman removed from the pyre was given a jail sentence for her “crime”, though for the most part prosecutions for “attempted sati” were not pursued.

[28] BC 1948, 94476, Sutherland, A.G.G. Rajputana, to Government Bengal, 11^th Sept. 1843.

[29] BC 2240, 112476, Sutherland, A.G.G. Rajputana, to Greathed, Marwar, 18^th Aug. 1846.

[30] FDR/P 174–178, 10^th Feb. 1844, Abbott, Nimar, to Wade, Indore, 6^th Sept. 1843.

[31] BC 2098, 98159, Lang, Myhee Caunta to Ogilvy, Baroda, 30^th Oct. 1844.

[32] BC 1925, 82602, Sutherland, A.G.G. Rajputana to Richards, Harrotwee, 23^rd June 1840.

[33] BC 1925, 82602, Translation of a letter from Maharao of Kota to Richards, Harauti, 9^th May 1840.

[34] BC 2098, 98159, Lang, Mahi Caunta to Ogilvy, Resident Baroda, 30^th Oct. 1844.