Read on Twitter
Continued from tbe the previous thread. Here is the link
https://twitter.com/Tanvangi17/status/1282882207791513602?s=19
Long thread. Please be patient.
https://twitter.com/Tanvangi17/status/1282882207791513602?s=19
Long thread. Please be patient.
Let's talk about sati. Sati is a practice/ritual where a woman self immolates herself on her husband's pyre. By choice. Most agree that this practice was restricted mostly to the warrior class only. It spread to other classes much later.
First of all, there is no evidence in our scriptures that Sati was forced or compulsory. At best, it is mentioned as a choice. I know there are instances of sati mentioned in Mahabharata and as far as my knowledge of the epic goes, none in Ramayana.
But nowhere it is said that it was a compulsory practice. I base this statement on the independent observations of @VedicWisdom1 where he has examined sati and it's presence in our scriptures. Here is the link to his thread. https://twitter.com/VedicWisdom1/status/1274336739687952387?s=19
http://indiafacts.org/sati-historical-evidence/
This article speaks of sati in terms of statistical figures. If we assume these figures to be true, which I believe they are as they have been taken from Prof Meenakshi Jain's well researched book, startling facts emerge.
This article speaks of sati in terms of statistical figures. If we assume these figures to be true, which I believe they are as they have been taken from Prof Meenakshi Jain's well researched book, startling facts emerge.
Sati was not as rampant as Britishers led us to believe. The numbers were grossly hyped up by the British Government and missionaries who had collected the data. Let's examine why they hyped the numbers.
Before that some statistics mentioned by the missionaries. In 1813,William Carey says and I here quote,"Besides these, I calculate 10,000 women annually burn.."An important point to be noted is that William Carey's work was limited to the Bengal area. So,this data is of that area
But the data published by Edward Thompson in terms of number of satis is vastly different. Data collected over the span of 13 years show that barely 5099 cases were registered in Calcutta division, still a high number as compared to other divisions.
Refer to SS 2. Carey applied the data that covered a small region to whole of India. Is it not bit of a mismatch? Carey states that 10,000 widows burnt annually whereas other data collected just a few years later states that barely 9000
... cases occurred in 13 years. Does it not seem that Carey's data was, at best faulty and at worst a malicious attempt to paint Hinduism as barbaric?
So, who was William Carey and why is his name important when we talk of Sati?
So, who was William Carey and why is his name important when we talk of Sati?
William Carey was a British Christian missionary to India. According to a paper titled "Hinduism in India and William Carey's Approach to people of other faiths" by the William Carey University, USA, he spearheaded the protest against Sati.
And here I quote, "At last because of Carey's revolutionary attempt, William Bentinck passed a regulation on December 4th 1829, declaring Sati as an illegal and criminal practice." So we can safely say that he had a major hand in getting the data that prompted the law.
But, he was, afterall a Jesuit missionary whose sole aim was to spread the word of Jesus. The widows he 'saved' were converted. Here again I quote, "When widows were converted to Christianity he arranged marriages for them."
According to the text in blue brackets from the same paper, it's clear that they, as in the British lawmakers were very well aware that sati was not promoted in Sanatan Dharma. Prof Jain says that the description of sati can be divided into two parts. Pre and Post Baptist phase
Some descriptions of sati by eye witnesses. Notice their tone of awe and respect for the woman enduring that? I am not saying that no one was burnt against her wishes and I am sure there are a few cases where force was applied but it was not a norm.
Social pressure and faulty understanding of scriptures coupled with greed for the deceased man's wealth may have led to these unhappy incidents. But to say all Hindus were monsters who burnt their women is unfair.
In the Pre Baptist phase, the description was provided by various travellers, who were mere observers of the local culture and practices. The tone was of awe and wonder. Whereas the Post Baptist phase the tone changed to that of criticism and condemnation.
No points in guessing why. The missionaries and the government had their agendas to fulfill. While the missionaries were looking to recruit maximum number of people to their faith, the government was on a mission to justify their forceful colonization of the land.
Hyping the numbers benefited both. While, the missionaries got more people to convert under the guise of "protecting them from evil and barbaric Hinduism", the British Government came out as saviours of the poor widows instead of being seen for what they really were.
Gross violators of indigenous population's freedom. Even today, many are not aware that Sati was not abolished by British. Marathas had done that years before the British even considered it. The British are still credited for abolishing evil practices of Hinduism.
Many still don't know or believe that Sati as a practice was not rampant in India. Bengal has the max record. The same Bengal where missionaries were hyper active. They had to means to manipulate the data and mislead an entire generation who blindly believed the data.
Whereas the evidence was always there.The missionaries with the agenda of gathering followers for their faith and the government with the agenda of justifying colonization misled ignorant Hindus into believing that their Dharma was regressive.
References image wise (Images have been numbered)
1) SS is from this link
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/carey/11chapter.html
But the actual refrence is from the book An Apology for Promoting Christianity in India by Claudius Buchanan.
1) SS is from this link
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00generallinks/carey/11chapter.html
But the actual refrence is from the book An Apology for Promoting Christianity in India by Claudius Buchanan.
2) Suttee: A Historical and Philosophical Enquiry into Hindu Rite of Widow Burning by Edward Thompson. Pg 60,61
3) Position of Women in Hindu Civilization by Dr A S Altekar. Pg 163
4) Same as above Pg 164
3) Position of Women in Hindu Civilization by Dr A S Altekar. Pg 163
4) Same as above Pg 164
5) "Hinduism in India and William Carey's Approach to people of other faiths" by the William Carey University, USA,
6) Position of Women in Hindu Civilization by Dr A S Altekar. Pg 159, 160.
1) Same as image 2. Pg 58,59.
6) Position of Women in Hindu Civilization by Dr A S Altekar. Pg 159, 160.
1) Same as image 2. Pg 58,59.
