No previous Governor General of India had ever tackled
social problems with greater courage than Bentinck did. He tried to reform
Hindu society by abolition of the cruel rite of Sati and suppression of infanticide.
He crushed the gangs of assassins called ‘thugs’ and made peaceful living
possible.
The term ‘Sati’ literally means ‘a pure and virtuous woman’.
It is used in the case of a devoted wife who contemplates perpetual and
uninterrupted conjugal union with her husband life after life and as a proof
thereof burns herself with the dead body of her husband. The belief that the
dead need company and victuals in their journey to far off Paradise was
prevalent among many primitive peoples, and it was customary to bury, with the
body of a chief, his drinking bowls, horses, dogs, and even his favorite wives and
concubines. Probably this practice was brought to India by the Indo-Scythian
invaders. In India its popularity was due to a false sense of conjugal duty
sanctioned by society and religion, though the motivating urges were economic and
moral.
Some enlightened Indian princes had taken steps to abolish
this cruel practice in their dominions. Emperor Akbar had attempted to restrict
it. The Marathas had forbidden it in their dominions. The Portuguese at Goa and
the French at Chandernagore had also taken some steps towards its abolition. The
East India Company had however adhered to its declared policy of non-interference
into the social and religious customs of the people of India. Early British Governors-General
like Cornwallis, Minto and Lord Hastings had taken some steps to restrict the practice
of Sati by discouraging compulsion, forbidding administration of intoxicating drugs
to the sorrow stricken widows, putting a ban on burning of pregnant women or
widows below 16 years of age, and above all, making compulsory the presence of
police officials at the time of sacrifice, who were to see that no compulsion
was used. These restrictions, however, proved inadequate and unsuccessful.
Enlightened Indian reformers led by Raja Ram Mohan Roy
urged William Bentinck to take necessary steps and declare the practice of Sati
illegal. The loss of his sister-in-law by sati had stirred Rammohan Roy to
action and he had published a number of pamphlets condemning the practice. His arguments
were supported by many of the progressive Indian newspapers and the conscience of
the nation had been awakened. William Bentinck provided the necessary legislative
corrective. He collected relevant facts and figures about Sati cases, obtained
the views of army officers, of the Judges of Nizamat Adalat, of the Superintendents
of Police of the lower and upper provinces and came to the conclusion that
there was no danger of mutiny or civil commotion. Regulation No XVII of
December 1829 declared the practice of sati or burning or burying alive of
widows illegal and punishable by the criminal courts as culpable homicide. The Regulation
of 1829 was applicable in the first place to Bengal Presidency alone, but in 1830
was extended in different forms to Madras and Bombay Presidency.
No public disorders followed the enactment. A few orthodox Bengalis vainly made an appeal to the Privy Council against Government’s interference in their religious customs. Counter petitions were sent to the King by Rammohan Roy and Devendranath Tagore and William Bentinck was thanked for what he had done.
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