Production of an Official Discourse on "Sati" in Early Nineteenth Century Bengal

Author(s): Lata Mani

Source: Economic and Political Weekly , Apr. 26, 1986, Vol. 21, No. 17 (Apr. 26, 1986),
pp. WS32-WS40
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4375595

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide
range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and
facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
https://about.jstor.org/terms

Economic and Political Weekly is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to Economic and Political Weekly

This content downloaded from

103.158.43.19 on Wed, 24 Jan 2024 04:41:07 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Production of an Official Discourse on Sati
in Early Nineteenth Century Bengal
Lata Mani

Several debates arose in the nineteenth century on the status of women in India in the context of determ
an appropriate colonial policy on such matters as sati which were seen to mark the depressed position o
in society. The reform of these practices was held to be part of the regenerating mission of colonisat
most sensational and the first of these debates concerned the outlawing of sati.
The literature on sati (and on social reform) of the period has largely adopted the framework of modernis
theory. The paper argues that the characterisation of the official debate as one between 'preservation
impatient westerners obscures a number of important issues. For instance, rather than argue for thc 0a,icl.w
of sati as a cruel and barbarous act, officials in favour of abolition were at pains to illustrate that
would be consonant with the principle of upholding tradition. By treating the debates on sati as a disco
examining its production the article contests the conclusions on sati drawn by colonial officiais.

NINETEENTH century British India was that such a move was entirely consonant sions about sati drawn by colonial officials.
marked by a series of debates on reforming with the principle of upholding indigenous This paper falls within the category of
the status of women. The first, and most tradition. Their strategy was to point to the historical studies that is concerned with the
sensational public debate, was concerned questionable scriptural sanction for sati and contribution of imperialism to what is
with outlawing sati: the practice, prevalentto the fact that, for one reason or another, known about colonial and ex-colonial socie-
predominantly among high caste Hindus, ofthey believed its contemporary practice ties; with reconstituting what B S Cohn
the immolation of widows on the funeral transgressed its original and therefore 'true' has called a "colonial sociology of know-
pyres of their husbands. These immolations scriptural meaning. ledge".4 Building on the work of Foucault
were sometimes voluntary and at other times on the collaboration of power/knowledge in
coerced. The official debate centred around the production of discourse5 and Said 6 with
the issue of the tolerance of such a practice Discourse as an Ideological Tool specific reference to discourses on the Orient,
in a 'British India'. this study begins with the premise that what
The literature on satil and more general- In this paper I have treated the debate on is known about colonial and ex-colonial
ly on social reform in the colonial period hassati as a discourse. My use of the term and societies is itself a colonial legacy. This pro-
largely adopted the framework of moder- a discussion of the value of this approach blem is not merely confined to knowledge
nisation theory. Reform here is conceptualis- is presented below. Briefly, however, in of what is designated 'the colonial period'.
ed as a product both of the impulse to analysing the debate as discourse, I focus on
As Romila Thapar states: "A major con-
'modernise' that supposedly characterised how knowledge about sati was produced. In
tradiction in our understanding of the entire
the officials of this period and the demands particular, I examine assumptions about sati, Indian past is that this understanding is
of a small but increasingly vocal 'westernis- Indian society and colonial subjects on derived from the interpretations of Indian
ed' urban indigenous male elite. Officials which this discourse depended and also the
history made in the last two hundred
who initiated and defended 'progressive' role of indigenous people in its production. years"7 Needless to say such understandings
legislation like the abolition of sati, have Several interlocking assumptions informed were forged in situations that reflect the
been loosely called "Anglicists". They have this discourse. Chief among these was the vicissitudes of a 'colonial' representation of
been marked off from their "Orientalist" hegemonic status accorded by colonial of-
reality and the needs of colonial power.
forerunners and colleagues, said to have ficials to brahmanic scriptures in the organi-
sation of social life. The corrollary to this Acknowledgement of the complex history
been more "Hindooised" and wary of in-
was to assume an unquestioning submission of received ideas is not new. The production
terventions in indigenous culture not pro-
mpted by the needs of colonial rule. The of indigenous people to the dictates of scrip- in recent years of 'workers' history', 'women's
history' or 'subaltern studies'8 implies the
abolition of sati in 1829 is said to signal theture and thus to posit an absence of con-
scious individual will. Widows in particular partiality, even bias, of existing accounts. An
rise of Anglicists whose victory is seen to
culminate in the great debate on English are represented as having no subjectivity and argument for women's history, for instance,
as doubly victimised by their ignorance of is based on the need to remedy a situation
versus Vernacular education in the mid
the scriptures and its consequence, their in which history has largely meant the
1830s.2
reliance on brahmin pundits. the latter are history of men. Obviously, accounts of
However, I will argue that a number of
portrayed as self-interested interpreters of thewomen or workers do not function only in
important issues are obscured in a charact-
sacred texts. As for sati itself, there is a an additive way but transform our under-
erisation of the official debate on sati as one
repeated insistence on a scriptural sanction standing of society as a whole.
between 'preservationists' and impatient
westernisers. Firstly, the fact that the debate for the practice, although this claim is in- I suggest, however, that an analysis of
was primarily about the feasibility rather creasingly contested as the debate develops. discourse is a different proposition, which
than the desirability of abolition is overlook- Analysis of the discourse also clarifies goes beyond producing 'indigenous' or 'op-
ed. Secondly, that which is common in the how selected natives, especially brahmin positional' accounts, whether nationalist,
analyses of Indian society in the arguments pundits, were deeply implicated in its pro- marxist or feminist. Rather, discourse
of those for and against abolition remains duction, albeit in a subordinate role. As I analysis focuses on that which is stable and
hidden. Finally, I will argue the case for will illustrate, pundits' statements were in- persistent in the ordering of social reality in
abolition is not, in fact, elaborated on the terpreted and deployed in ways that produc- each of these accounts. Thus it can point to
grout ds that such a characterisation implies. ed a distinctively colonial conception of assumptions shared by those who claim to
Rather than arguing for the outlawing of sati sati. 3 Examining the production of dis- be opposed to each other or are concep-
as a cruel or barbarous act, as one might course clarifies what was privileged and tualised in this manner, whether nationalists
expect of a true 'moderniser', officials in what was marginalised in the process. Thus and colonialists or Orientalists and Anglicists.
favour of abolition were at pains to illustrate it becomes possible to contest the conclu- In a sense the term discourse as used by

Economic and Political Weekly. Vol XXI, No 17

WS-32 Review of Women Studies, April 26, 1986

This content downloaded from

103.158.43.19 on Wed, 24 Jan 2024 04:41:07 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
ECONOMIC ANO POLITICAL WEEKLY Review of Women Studies April 1986
Fbucault and Said i- sinuilar in scope to the
Marxist notion of ideology: a public, institu-
tionalised set of constraints on what is
'truth' and 'knowledge'. Discourse is, how-
ever, the more useful analytical tool: for it
retains the dialogical processes implied by
speech and requires at least two parties. I
believe it is useful to speak of a 'colonial
discourse' on sati rather than a colonial
ideology, precisely because knowledge about
colonial society was produced through inter-
action between colonialists-officials,
scholars, missionaries-and certain selected
natives. The 'interaction' was often 'inter-
rogation' and always transversed by power.
Discourse signals the back-and-forth of
these power-laden encounters more sensitive-
ly than ideology, for the latter seems to have
gathered about it notions of rigidity and
monological, even hegemonic, production.
The concept of discourse also embodies the
possibility of several simultaneous discourses.
It makes for the analysis of missionary, of-
ficial and indigenous discourses as auto-
nomous although engaged with each other
in relations of dialogue and struggle.
In this paper I examine the production of
an official discourse on sati. A complete
analysis of colonial discourses on sati would
require, in addition, attention to missionary
and indigenous discourses for both were im-
portant in the debate on abolition. This essay
represents only the beginning of such an
enterprise.
Such a critical reading of historical
materials is not the province of intellecvual
history alone. Given that these discourses
were spawned by considerations of social
policy and informed practice, they are of
equal concern to social historians. As for
colonial subjects confronting the colonial
legacy, such a critical reading offers a way
of reinterpreting tradition, history and
identity.
II
Sati: A Legislative History9
As a subject covered by criminal law, col-
onial policy on sati was formulated between
the Governor General and Council and
Officials at various levels of the criminal
justice system in Bengal: magistrates, police
officials, the provincial court-Nizamat
Adalat-and the superior court-Sadr
Nizamat Adalat. Also involved was the Privy
Council at the apex of East India Company
hierarchy in London. Finally, given the sup-
posed scriptural sanction for sati, brahmin
pundits also became crucial participants.
Appointed to the civil courts under Warren
Hastings in 1772 to interpret scriptural law
in civil matters-marriage, divorce, in-
heritance, succession-pundits were called
upon to elaborate the dictates of scripture
on all aspects of sati. Residents of Calcutta
were beyond the purview of this debate since
the city fell under the jurisdiction of British sati and the government's commitment to
law and sati had been outlawed there in
1798.
103.158.43.19 on Wed, 24 Jan 2024 04:41:07 +00:00
The history of legislation on sati is in those cases in which it is countenanced by
relatively straightforward. In all, only one their religion; and [prevented] in others in
regulation and three circulars were actually which it is by the same autho. ity pro-
promulgated between the first recorded hibited. 12
query on the official position on sati in Sati was thus to be prohibited in all cases
February 1789 and its prohibition in Decem- in which the widow was less than sixteen
ber 1829. The first official position on sati years of age, or was pregnant or intoxicated
was articulated in response to a clarification or in any other way coerced. Magistrates
sought by M H Brooke, Collector of Shaha- were also instructed to transmit to the
bad District. In the absence of any official Nizamat Adalat details of each sati commit-
instructions on the subject, and on the ted in their jurisdictions, including any pro-
strength of its illegality in Calcutta city, hibitive measures they might have taken.
Brooke had prohibited the burning of a This circular promulgated on April 29,
widow and sought government approval for 1813, was the only significant regulation in-
his decision. The Governor General com- troduced until the practice was outlawed.
mended his action but urged him to use Three more circulars were issued, but these
private influence rather than official were merely further refinements prompted
authority in dissuading natives from sati, by the queries of District- Magistrates on
claiming: what constituted a legal sati. Its 'legality'
The public prohibition of a ceremony supposedly conferred by its scriptural origin
authorised by the tenets of the religion had
of been confirmed by the regulation
the
Hindus, and from the observance of which of 1813. Queries were forwarded by the
they have never yet been restricted by the Nizamat Adalat to their resident pundits, re-
ruling power would in all probability tend to questing them to provide vyawasihas in con-
increase rather than diminish their venera- formity with the scriptures.'3 Thus a cir-
tion for it.10 cular was promulgated in September 1813,
He continued that he hoped in the course that authorised jogis (a tribe of weavers sup-
of time natives would "discern the fallacy posedly the survivors of wandering men-
of the principle which have given rise to this dicants) to bury their dead, since the scriv-
practice, and that it will of itself gradually tures reportedly forbade burning in their
fall into disuse"" The Governor General case. 4 It was similarly decreed in 1815 that
cites nosupport for his claim of a religious women with children under three might
sanction for sati. commit sati only if arrangements had
The issue was raised again in 1805 when been made for the maintenance of their
Elphinstone, acting magistrate of the Zillah children.'5 The 1815 circular also specified
of Behar, reported his intervention in a casethat brahmin women could only burn along
where an intoxicated twelve-year-old was be- with their husbands by performing the rite
ing coerced into the pyre. Like Brooke, he of sahamarana, while women of other castes
sought instructions from the Governor were also permitted anoomarnana, in which
General and his Council. The secretary of the widow burned at a later date together
the government referred the issue to the with an article belonging to the husband.
Nizamat Adalat, asking how far and in what Finally, this circular instructed magistrates
ways the practice of sati was founded in the to submit an anndlal report of satis in their
scripture, stating that if scriptural sanction districts to the Sadr Nizamat Adalat, speci-
precluded abolition, measures might be fying for each sati: the name of the widow,
taken to prevent coercion and such abuses her age, her caste, the name and caste of the
as the intoxication of widows. husband, the date of burning and the police
The Nizamat Adalat in turn referred the jurisdiction in which it occurred. An addi-
matter to its pundit, Ghanshyam Surmono. tional column was provided for recording
The pundit responded in March 1805 but not any remarks that the magistrate thought
until April 29, 1813, some eight years later, deserving of attention. A third circular,
was his exposition of the scriptural position issued in 1822, instructed that information
on sati issued in the form of instructions to on the husband's profession and circum-
the District Magistrates. stances also be included for each sati.16
Based on an official reading of Surmono's Although no further regulations were issued,
interpretation of the texts, the instructions the following years witnessed intense debate
declared sati to be a practice founded in the on abolition. The debate was rekindled every
religious beliefs of Hindus. It was clarified year when the Nizamat Adalat analysed the
that the practice was intended to be volun- annual returns of sati and examined for each
tary and, if performed, was expected to incident the conduct of the district magis-
ensure an after-life together for the widow trate and police officers.
and her husband. The circular also stated aI he quiestion of abolition raised the
that a widow who had taken a vow to com- related issues of desirability and feasibility.
mit sati was permitted to change her mind Colonial officials were unanimous on the
without loss of caste, providing she perform- desirability of abolition in the abstract,
ed a penance. The preface to the instructions although they were fearful of violating the
clarified that given the scriptural status on principlc of religious tolerance. Needless to
say, the latter concern was itself linked to
the principle of religious tolerance, sati the feasibility or political costs of interven-
would be permitted: tion. Given their belief in the centrality of
WS-33
This content downloaded from
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Review of Women Studies April 1986 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

religion in the lives of Hindus, officials Officials advocating further legislation, and the benefits of a greater political
feared that any interference would produce however, were in a minority. The general view stability of the East India Company whose
repercussions that might endanger the East was that in the context of a sustained high control had now been extended across
India Company's economic and political incidence of sati, anything short of total pro-Rajputhana, Central India and Nepal. A few
stakes in India. The tactic of gathering scrip- hibition would be unwise. Yet this appeared confidence and energy was reflected in Ben-
tural evidence was thus an attempt to out of the question. In the meantime, it was tinck's Minute on sati:
challenge sati in such a way as to preclude hoped that the spread of education and the Now that we are supreme, my opinion is
a threat to public order. Indeed it had example of the high caste, educated, wester- decidedly in favour of an open, avowed and
become clear in consulting with the pundits nised Hindus would serve to make the prac- general prohibition, resting altogether upon
that the older scriptures made no mention tice unpopular. Indigenous opposition to sati the moral goodness of the act and our power
of sati, but rather glorified ascetic had been growing since 1818, when Ram- to enforce it.22
widowhood. Even more recent texts did not mohun Roy, chief campaigner and symbol The desirability of abolitic nad never been
enjoin sati but merely recommended it. The of the native lobby against sati published his at issue. Its feasibility had proved to be the
use of scriptures by officials for and against first tract against the practice. thorny question. Bentinck settled the issue
abolition will be discussed more fully below. However, in general, faith in the pro- once and for all.
Meanwhile, a dramatic increase in sati lent gressive influence of higher caste, better Sati either by burning or burial was
urgency to the debate. In the first three yearseducated Hindus was misplaced, for the outlawed and made punishable by the
of data collection alone the number of satis practice was predominantly theirs.2' The criminal courts. Zamindars and talukdars
nearly tripled from 378 to 839. Although the regional distribution of sati also made it dif- were made responsible for immediate com-
figures declined after 1819-20, they never fell ficult to sustain in the hope that a great ex- munication to the police of intention to per-
to the levels first recorded in 1815, but fluc- posure to western influence would result in form sati, any lapse being made punishable
tuated between an annual incidence of 500 is declining popularity. For sixty-three per by a' fine or imprisonment. The Nizamat
and 600. cent of satis between 1815 and 1828 were Adalat was authorised to impose the death
Over the -years the Nizamat Adalat pro- committed in the Calcutta Division around sentence on active participants in sati if the
posed various explanations for this rise. In- Calcutta city, the seat of colonial power. In- crime was gruesome enough to render them
itially it claimed that the rise could merely deed this high figure may in part be ac- unworthy of mercy. It is not known to what
reflect more refined counting. In 1817-18 it counted for by Hindu residents of Calcutta extent the legislative act succeeded in put-
argued, somewhat weakly, that the figures going outside the city to commit sati, whichting out the flaming pyres. Statistics were no
reflected the cholera epidemic that had was illegal within its boundaries. longer collected and thus it is impossible to
ravaged parts of Bengal. Some officials, The regionally skewed distribution of satis evaluate the effects of abolition. What aboli-
however, proposed a more convincing, albeit prompted some magistrates like H B Melville tion did achieve was an official resolution
sinister, explanation pointing out that the in 1823 and W B Bayley in 1827 to propose in one instance of the conflict between
government circular might have made people abolition in certain districts. Others used the political expediency and the civilising mis-
aware of more circumstances under which regional variation as evidence that sati was sion of colonisation.
sati might be performed. Suspicion grew thata localised, temporal phenomenon and not III
the rise was somehow linked to government a universal religious one. Further, already by
interposition. W Ewer, acting Superinten- 1818, it had become evident that the scrip- The Discourse and Its
dent of Police in the Lower Provinces, tural sanction for sati was not clearcut. In Assumptions
argued that "authorising a practice is not the March 1824, the Court of Directors sitting
The one feature that is clear even from this
way to effect its gradual abolition". 17 Court- in London, drawing almost exclusively on
brief legislative history is that the abolition
ney Smith, Nizamat Adalat judge, echoed official correspondence and Nizamat Adalat
of sati was complicated by official insistence
Ewer's sentiment that government attention proceedings on sati came to the conclusion
on its scriptural status. Whatever their views
had given "a sort of interest and celebrity that these papers themselves were replete
on the feasibility of abolition, all colonial
to the sacrifice". 18 He recommended that allwith arguments on the basis of which aboli-
officials shared to a greater or lesser degree
,irculars be rescinded since they had a tion could be justified. In particular, the
three interdependent ideas: the centrality of
tendency "to modify, systematise or legalise directors highlighted the following: the ques-
religion, the submission of indigenous peo-
the usage" and made it appear as though "a tionable scriptural status of sati, the viola-
ple to its dictates and the 'religious' basis Qf
legal suttee was... better than an illegal tion of scriptural rules in its performance,
sati. Those against abolition argued that
one. 19 the inefficacy of current regulation, the sup-
prohibition of sati was likely to incite native
Not all officials agreed with Ewer and port for abolition among Indians, the con-
resistance. As the Nizamat Adalat put it:
Smith. Some Nizamat Adalat judges like fidence of some magistrates that sati could
Such a measure would, in all probability, ex-
C T Sealy and A B Todd resisted the implica- be abolished safely, the incompatibility of cite a considerable degree of alarm and
tion that the circulars were interventionist sati with principles of morality and reason dissatisfaction in the minds of the Hindoo
and insisted that they merely implemented The Court of Directors however conceded inhabitants of these provinces.23
the law as embedded in the scriptures. Others that the final decision must rest with the Officials in favour of abolition also
asked for an even more rigorous enforcement authorities in India since only they could developed arguments reflecting the view of
of scriptural law. For instance, in 1828 evaluate the political consequences of such Hindu society generated by these same
Cracroft, Magistrate of Dacca, even went so action. assumptions. For instance, Judge E Watson's
far as to recommend that only widows from Indeed it was in India that legislation to argument for the feasibility of abolition
families with pure caste status be permitted outlaw sati was finally initiated by Gover- rested on the precedent of Regulation 8 1799
to perform sati. Cracroft suggested that such nor General Lord William Bentinck in which, by declaring female infanticide, child
a rigorous interpretation of caste would December 1829. Bentinck had little more sacrifice
in- and the burial of lepers be capital
reduce sati by ninety per cent since few formation than his predecessors, either offences,on had similarly, in his view, violated
families if any would meet this standard.20 sati or on the probable effects of such religious principles. It is in this sense that
In 1823, Harrington proposed circumventing legislation, although he had gathered I assert that officials on both sides of
the scriptures, suggesting that sati need not military intelligence that such legislation the debate shared the same universe of
be outlawed outright but that brahmin would not provoke disquiet among the discourse.
pundits and relatives might be prosecuted as armed forces. What Bentinck did possess Walter Ewer, Superintendent of Police in
principals or accomplices in homicide. was a combination of the will to outlaw sati the Lower Provinces, made a different kind

WS-34

This content downloaded from

103.158.43.19 on Wed, 24 Jan 2024 04:41:07 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY Review of Women Studies April 1986

of argument for abolition. As a thorough scriptures on the issue; Manu "the parent her own free will, this perishable frame' and
and systematic analysis which sums up the of Hindoo jurisprudence" did not even as "having burnt herself with him in their
arguments of officials over the years, it is mention sati, but instead glorified ascetic presence with a swelling heart and a smiling
worth detailed attention.24 Ewer took the widowhood. It is important to note that countenance.'31 Other officials dismissed
position that the contemporary practice of what unites both the 'temporal' and 'scrip- out of hand the possibility of such volun-
sati bore little resemblance to its scriptural tural' aspects of Ewer's arguments is the tary satis and insisted with Ewer that widows
model as a voluntary act of devotion carried -privileging of religion and the assumption were ihcapable of consenting and must
out for the spiritual benefit of the widow of a complete native submission to its force. therefore be protected.
and the deceased. Rather, in his view, widows This analysis was not that of Ewer alone. It is evident that the arguments in favour
were coerced and sati was performed most Maloney, Acting Magistrate of Burdwan, of prohibiting sati were not primarily con-
often for the material gain of surviving similarly emphasised that the decision of cerned with its cruelty or 'barbarity' though
relatives. Ewer suggested that relatives might widows to commit sati stems not many officials did maintain that sati was
save the expense of maintaining the widow from their having reasoned themselves into horrid, even as an act of volition. It is also
and irritation of her legal right over the a conviction of the purity of the act itself, clear that officials in favour of legislative
family estate. Also said to apply pressure on as from a kind of infatuation produced by prohibition were not interventionists, con-
the widow by extolling the virtues and the absurdities poured into their ears by ig- temptuous of indigenous culture nor ad-
rewards of sati were 'hungry brahmins' norant brahmins.29 vocates of change in the name of 'progress'
greedy for the money due- to them for For Maloney, as for Ewer, the widow is or Christian principles. On the contrary, of-
officiating on such occasions. always a victim and the pundit always ficials in favour of abolition were arguing
Even if the widow succeeded in resisting corrupt. Maloney, like Ewer, also concedes that such action was consistent with the
the combined force of relatives and pundits, the possibility of a 'good' sati that is volun- policy of upholding indigenous religious
Ewer held that she would not be spared by tary and the product of reason; but only in tradition, even that such a policy'necessitated
the crowd. According to him, "the entire the abstract. In reality, the widow is un- intervention. And indeed this was how the
population of the village will turn out to educated and' presumed to be incapable of regenerating mission of colonisation was
assist in dragging her to the bank of the river, both reason and independent action. conceptualised: not as the imposition of a
and in keeping her down on the pile"25 For This accent on 'will' in the analysis of new Christian moral order but as the
the crowd, sati was said to offer the lure of Ewer and Maloney, testifies to the am- recuperation and enforcement of the 'truths'
a spectacle. bivalance which lies at the heart of the col- of indigenous tradition. In this regard, it is
None of the holy exultation that formerly ac- onial attitude to sati. It suggests that within interesting that Elliot suggested a preamble
companied the departure of a martyr, but all the general and avowed disapproval of the to the legislation outlawing sati, explaining
the savage merriment which, in our days, ac- practice, there operated notions of 'good' government policy on indigenous customs
companies a boxing match or a full-bait.26 and 'bad' satis. 'Good' satis were those that and appealing to scriptural authority for
Ewer thus concludes that "the widow is were seen to be true to an official reading abolition through apposite quotations from
scarcely ever a free agent at the performance of the scriptures. And the critical factor in the texts. In his opinion this would,
of the suttee".27 According to Ewer, such determining official attitude was the issue ... remove the evil from the less learned, who
scriptural transgressions as the coercion of of the widow's will. Thus the Nizamat would thus be led to lament the ignorance
widows or the performance of sati for Adalat instructed magistrates to pay close in which they have hitherto been held enslay-
meterial gain could either be the result of attention to the demeanour of the widow as ed by their bigoted priests, and at the same
ignorance of scriptures or reflect conscious she approached the pyre so that officials time to rejoice in the mercy and wisdom of
design on the part of relatives and pundits: could intercept at the merest suggestion of a government which blends humanity with
in the former case sati could be abolished coercion. Magistrates accordingly recorded justice, and consults at once the interests and
without provoking indigenous outrage; in in the annual returns on sati such remarks prejudices of its subjects, by recalling them
the latter case, sati could not be considered as the following: "the widow voluntarily from practices revolting, and pronounced
a sacred act and could safely be abolished. sacrificed herself'" "ascended the pyre of her erroneous even by their own authorities.32
It is clear that, according to Ewer, when own free will", burnt "without in any way This conception of colonial subjects
Hindus acted "religiously", they did not act inebriated and in conformity with the held the majority to be ignorant of their
consciously. In other words, true "religious" Shaster"' "religion". Religion was equated with scrip-
action was synonymous with a passive , un- Such guarded acceptance of 'good' satis ture. Knowledge of the scriptures was held
questioning obedience. Thus, if the widow is also evident in the suggestions of Harr- to be largely the monopoly of brahmin pun-
is construed as a victim of pundits and ington and Elliot that legislation should dits. Their knowledge was however believed
relatives, they in turn are seen by Ewer to cover not the widow, who should be left free to be corrupt and self-serving. The civilis-
act in two mutually exclusive ways: either to commit sati, but brahmins and others ing mission of colonisation was thus seen
"consciously", that is "irreligiously", or who aided or unduly influenced her. Such to lie in protecting the 'weak' against the
"passively", that is "religiously". Hence Ewer an act it was argued would prevent coercion, 'artful'; in giving back to the natives the
nowhere suggests that pundits and relatives with the additional merit that: truths of their own "little read and less
could manipulate religion to their own ends. No law obligatory on the consciences of thelunderstood Shaster".33
As for the widow, she is not offered any Hindoos will be infringed, and the women The arguments of abolitionists were thus
possibility of ever exercising her will. Ewer desirous of manifesting the excess of their developed within the ambit of "religion".
submitted that left to herself, the widow conjugal love will be left at liberty to do The pros and cons of sati were systematically
would "turn with natural instinct and horror so.30
debated as doctrinal considerations. In this
from the thought of suttee".28 However, in Officials like Elliot, quoted above, approv- sense the debate on abolition might be fruit-
his view, given her ignorance and weak men- ed of sati as long as it was an act of free will. fully interpreted as, in part, a conflict over
tal and physical capacity, it took little per-This view was also reflected in a non- scriptural interpretation. In employing scrip-
suasion to turn any apprehension into a horrified announcement of two satis in the tures to support their view the abolitionists
reluctant consent. Calcutta Gazette as late as 1827, by which in effect resurrected the vyawasthas of pun-
Ewer resolved the issue of the feasibility time it was officially maintained that feasibi- dits that had been marginalised in earlier
of abolition further by problematising the lity was the onlv reason for tolerating sati. official readings of the scriptures. In par-
assumption of a scriptural sanction for sati. It described the widows respectively as ticular, they re-examined the discussions bet-
He pointed to the heterogeneity of the "having abandoned with cheerfulness and ween officials and pundits leading to the for-

WS-3S

This content downloaded from

103.158.43.19 on Wed, 24 Jan 2024 04:41:07 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Review of Women Studies April 1986 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

mulation of the 1813 regulation. These that in some districts sati had almost entirely if you persist in your remonstrances I will
previously marginalised vyawasthas were ceased while in others it was confined almost curse you"'41
now reactivated by officials both as testi- exclusively to certain castes. Despite this, col- The relatives, supposedly fearing the legen,
mony of the safety of abolition and as index onial officials decided to pursue a course of dary curse of the sati, are said to have com-
of the ignorance of natives. Official debt to tolerance because in their opinion, in most plied with her wishes and built the pyre. Her
the pundits in interpreting the texts was not provinces, "all castes of Hindoos would be parting words were reported to have been,
acknowledged. This gives us a clue to the extremely tenacious of its continuance"39 "Set fire to the pile; if you refuse to do so,
role of the pundits in the production of Whatever the justification for concluding I will curse you"'42 Colonial officials syste-
official knowledge about sati, a theme that thus in 1813, such insistence was hardly matically ignored such evidence of the
will be taken up in the next section. tenable once systematic data collection on widows as subjects with a will of their own.
In the meantime, as we already know, sati was begun in 185. For it quickly became Although they conceded the possibility of.
official commitment to enforcing indigenous apparent that 66 per cent of satis were car- a 'voluntary' sati, these were interpreted not
faith and penalising its violation in the ried out between the districts surrounding as evidence of the will of the widow, but
practice of sati did not lead to a decline in Calcutta city and the Shahabad, Ghazipur testimony of her subjection to religion. The
its incidence. This was regarded as native and Sarun districts. This indicates either that widow thus nowhere appears as a full sub-
misunderstanding of colonial intention and sati was not a solely 'religious' practice as ject. If she resisted, she was considered a vic-
construed as further evidence of Hindu the officials maintained, or that religion was tim of Hindu male barbarity. If she ap-
'bigotry'. Proposals were made for closer not hegemonic-another colonial assump- peared to consent, she was seen to be a vic-
supervision although in the event none were tion-or both. However, officials interpreted tim of religion. Colonial representations fur-
implemented. It is striking that officials did regional variation to imply that although sati ther reinforced such a view of the widow as
not acknowledge the 'inconsistencies' bet- was primarily a religious practice, other fac- helpless by "infantilising" the typical sati.
ween their interpretation of the place o-f tors might be at play. Therefore, as late as The widow is quite often described as a
scripture in native life, and natives' own 1827, with eleven years of data at hand, "tender child". Analysis of sati by age fails
behaviour, let alone revise their view. If W B Bayley could continue to be puzzled to confirm such a picture, for a majority of
anything, it appears as though such in- by what he called "anomalies" in the annual satis were undertaken by women -well past
consistencies served to reaffirm their report of satis. He wrote to the court seeking childhood. In 1818, for example, 64 per cent
assumptions. an explanation of satis were above 40 years of age.
In summary, the official view of sati rested In highlighting the absence of women's
in regard to the following extraordinary
on three interlocking assumptions: the subjectivity in colonial representations of
discrepancies in the results exhibited by
hegemony of religious texts, a total in- sati, my intention is not to imply that women
the present statement. In the district of
digenous submission to their dictates and the acted voluntarily or argue that sati could be
Backergune 63 instances of suttee are
religious basis of sati. However, a re- reported, -and in the adjaceht district of an act of "free will". Their subjectivities were
examination of Parliamentary papers Dacca Tetalpore only 2.40 probably complex and inconsistent. In any
makes it possible to contest each of these These could only be "extraordinary case they are not accessible to us. As for
assumptions. discrepancies" because Bayley, like other of- whether or not relatives were self-interested
To begin with, the insistence on textual ficials continued to maintain, despite or brahmins bigoted, such questions can also
hegemony is challenged by the enormous evidence to the contrary, that religion had only be addressed with reference to specific
regional variation in the mode of commit- a uniformly powerful influence in native life. cases. My purpose in raising the issue of the
ting sati. The vyawasthas of pundits had If the hegemony of religious texts and its widow's subjectivity is rather to point out
elaborated differences by village and district, corrollary, an unthinking native obedience that the ubiquitous characterisation of the
even caste and occupation in the perfor- to scripture, is called into question by widow as victim was not borne out by the
mance of sati. "In certain villages of Burd- regional variation in the incidence and mode experience of colonial officials as recounted
wan a district in Bengal the following cere- of performing sati, the representation of by them in the Parliamentary papers.
monies are observed".34 Or, 'In some widows as perennial victims is similarly It is not the widow alone who is repre-
villages situated in Benares, the following debatable. For one thing the Parliamentary sented as passive, for all colonial subjects,
practices obtain among the widows of mer- papers contain several accounts of women male and female, are portrayed as finally
chants and other traders'35 Local influence acting on their own behalf. Some of them subordinated to religion. The Nizamat
predominated in every aspect of sati. For in- did so when they resisted being coerced into Adalat stated this view quite dramatically in
stance the pundits pointed out, "She then the pyre. The annual reports of sati include the context of discussing the Hindu practice
proceeds to the place of sacrifice... having many instances of women being coerced. of burying lepers. Reviewing a case that had
previously worshipped the peculiar deities Representations of such incidents, however, come to their notice, they exclaimed, "no
of the city of village'36 In the face of such stress not the resistance of women but the example can be of any avail. Their motives
diversity the pundits concluded "The cere- barbarity of Hindu males in their coercion. were above all human control!43
monies practically observed, differ as to the Women also expressed their will when they
various tribes and districts'37 Colonial of- resisted being prevented from-jumping into IV
ficials acknowledged these differences and the flames. One such case reported by Production of Knowledge about
instructed magistrates to allow natives "to magistrate W Wright in 1819 is worth re-
follow the established authority and usage
Sati: Interaction and Interrogation
counting. A child widow, Mussummat Seeta
of the province in which they reside'38 'had suddenly decided at age 15, som.e nine Information about sati was generated at
However, such diversity was regarded as years after husband's death to commit sati. the instance, one is tempted to say insistence,
'peripheral' to the 'central' principle of tex- She resolved to die through the rite of of colonial officials posing questions to pun-
tual hegemony. anoomarana with a stringed instrument that dits resident at the courts. The pundits were
Similarly, regional variation in the in- had belonged to her husband. According to instructed to respond with "a reply in con-
cidence of sati was not taken as a challenge Wright, her parents, in-laws and police of- formity with the scriptures"44 The working
to the assumption, of the hegemony of ficers sought in vain to dissuade her. Wright of colonial power is nowhere mQre visible
religion even though it did count as evidence records that the widow than in this process. It is worth examining
of a material basis for sati. Colonial officials one such interaction in detail.
continually made use of the expression: "All
did not completely ignore the fact of such your remonstrances are perfectly unavailing; In 1805, as noted earlier, the question of
variation. The regulation of 1813 recognised it is now necessary for me to become suttee; scriptural sanction for sati was first put to

WS-36

This content downloaded from

103.158.43.19 on Wed, 24 Jan 2024 04:41:07 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY Review of Women Studies April 1986

the pundits of the Nizamat Adalat. Specifi- thus formulated on the basis of an inter- not all vyawasthas were accorded such
cally they were aksed pretation of the pundit's replies by the- of- legitimacy; rather, colonial officials selec-
whether a woman is enjoined by the Shaster ficials who put the questions. It was a result tively privileged some and marginalised
voluntarily to burn herself with the body ofof this encounter which produced the only others.
her husband, or is prohibited; and what are legislative enactment on sati until its even- Pundits attested to the interpretive nature
the conditions prescribed by the Shaster on tual abolition. -The statement itself was also of vyawasthas in several ways. Vyawasthas
such occasions?45 repeatedly recalled by officials arguing were often prefaced with such declarations
The pundit responded as follows: against abolition. Certainly, permission to as:
Having duly copsidered the question propos- commit sati was more explicit elsewhere in Having inspected the paper drawn up by the
ed by the court, I now answer it to the bestthe scriptures. However, at issue here is not chief judge of this court we proceed to fur-
of my knowledge:- every woman of the foux the scriptural accuracy of the pundit's nish a reply to the best of our ability (em-
castes (brahmin, khetry, bues and soodur) isresponse so much as the arbitrariness so phasis mine).52
permitted to burn herself with the body of Having considered the question proposed by
typical of the official interpretation of
her husband, provided she has no infant the court I now answer it to the best of my'
vyawasthas.
children, nor is pregnant, nor in a state of knowledge (emphasis mine).53
This example embodies many of the basic
uncleanness, nor under the age of puberty; Similarly, they characterised their replies as
or in any of which cases she is not allowed principles by which a body of information
opinions: "The authorities for the above opi-
to burn herself with her husband's body.46 about sati was generated. Questions to pun- nion are as follows". The interpretive
The pundit specified that women with in- dits were intended, to establish clarity on all
character of the vyawasthas was also evident
fant children could burn provided they madeaspects of sati. Pundits were required to
from the way in which the scriptures were
arrangements for the care of such infants. comb the scriptures and produce unam-
used:
Further, .he added that coercion, overt or biguoug scriptural support. For instance, in
In support of the above may be adduced
subtle, was forbidden. In support of his April 1813, a pundit was required to specify
the following authorities (emphasis mine).55
opinion, he quoted the following texts: the meaning of the phrase "tender years" in
In the above sentence by using the words
This rests. upon the authority of Anjira, his statement that "a woman having a child
"she who ascends" the author must have had
Vijasa and Vrihaspati, Mooni. of tender years is wholly inhibited from in contemplation those who declined to do
"There are three millions and a half of becoming a suttee"49 Inferential conclusions so (emphasis mine).56
hairs upon the human body, and every were only acceptable where explicit docu- From the above quoted passages of the
woman who burns herself with the body of mentation was impossible. Thus, for exam- Mitateshura, it would appear that this was
her husband, will reside with him in heaven ple, the Sadr Nizamat Adalat had to be con- an act fit for all women to perform (em-
during a like number of years." tent with inferential scriptural support for phasis mine).57
"In the same manner, as a snake-catcher the burial of jogis. The matter had been It is clear from the above that vyawasthas
drags a snake from his hole, so does a woman referred to the Sadr Nizamat Adalat by the did not claim to pronounce either scriptural
who burns herself, draw her husband out of truth or the only possible response to a given
magistrate of the provincial Dacca court,
hell; and she afterwards resides with him in
since the pundit at that court had in their question.58
heaven"
view unsatisfactorily claimed that "This is The corpus of texts designated 'the scrip-
The exceptions above cited, respecting
an act which is founded merely on prac- tures' also made such a claim difficult to
women in a state of pregnancy or unclean-
tice.'50 The Sadr Nazamat Adalat pundits maintain. The scriptures were an enormous
ness, and adolescence, were communicated
produced inferential support in their body -of texts composed at different times.
by Qorub and others to the mother of Sagar
response. In this context they also argued They included the srutis, the dharmashastras
Raja.47
The question posed to the pundit was that the scriptures themselves gave equalor smritis and nibandhas. The srutis were
whether sati was enjoined by the scriptural support to custom and usage. However, believed to be a pre-scriptural transcription
texts. The pundit in effect responded that thedespite official insistence on faithfulness to of a revealed oral discourse anterior to the
texts did not enjoin but merely prmitted sati the scriptures, colonial officials continuedcategory of historicity. The dharmashastras
in certain instances, drawing on quotes to prefer explicit scriptural injunction.5' Itor smritis were mnemic and historico-social
which spoke of the rewards sati would bring was for this reason that the Sadr Nizamat texts supposedly transcribed'by the sages
to widows and their husbands. That the Adalat reprimanded a district pundit for under the authority of Hindu kings. The
scriptures permit sati can only be inferred referring "to the custom of a country, uponprincipal shastras are products of named
from the above passage. Nevertheless on the a point which is expressly provided for byand thus 'historical' subjects: Manu, Yajna-
basis of this rather elusive response the la/'52 valkya and Narada. The commentaries and
Nizamat Adalat concluded: Over the years, through such continualdigests, were treatises interpreting and ex-
The practice, generally speaking, being thus and intensive questioning, criteria for an of-pounding the shastras and mainly produc-
recognised and encouraged by the doctrines ed between the llth-18th century. Different
ficially sanctioned sati were generated. It had
of the Hindoo religion, it appears evident to be voluntary. Brahmin women were per- commentaries were held to be authoritative
that the course which the British government mitted only sahamarana. Non-brahmin in different regions. It is no wonder then that
should follow, according to the principle of women could burn through sahamarana or two pundits could issue vyawasthas on the
religious tolerance... is to allow the prac- anoomarana. Sati was forbidden to women same point and quote different texts or dif-
tice in those cases in which it is countenanced
under sixteen and to women with infants less ferent passages from the same text to sup-
by their religion; and to prevent it in others
than three years. Women of the jogi tribe port their statements.
in which it is by the same authority pro- were permitted to bury themselves.
hibited (emphasis mine).48 The fact that the various texts were
Two moves have been made from the pun- Although scriptural authority was claimed authored at different periods also accounted
dit's actual words to atrive at this conclu- for this model, a careful reading of the for their heterogeneity on many points, not
sion. The pundit claims that he has answered Parliamentary papers tells quite another least of which was the scriptural sanction for
the question "to the best of my knowledge." story. For example, colonial officials treatedsati. Colonial response to such heterogeneity
However, his response is treated as an vyawasthas as truthful exegeses of the scrip-took three forms. Sometimes diversity was
altogether authoritative one. Further, per- tutes in an absolute sense and enforced them selectively recognised, as in the determina-
mission by inference is transformed inic tion and enforcement of the appropriate
legally. By contrast, it is clear from reading
scriptural "recognition" and "encourage- these vyawasthas th4t pundits issuing them modes of committing sati for brahmin and
ment" of sati. Colonial policy on sati was believed them to be interpretive. However, non-brahmin widows. At other times it was

WS-37

This content downloaded from

103.158.43.19 on Wed, 24 Jan 2024 04:41:07 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Review of Women Studies April 1986 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY

acknowledged for practical reasons but not tion"59 Such details ensured that no infrac- addresses. The colonial rewriting/reinter-
'resolved' as in the considered tolerance of tion whether on the part of officials or pretation of the pundits' vyawasthas as in-
regional variation in the mode of conduc- natives, could escape the official eye. Thus, variant scriptural truths and their enforce-
ting sati: whether the widow's body was for instance, in the review of satis for 1819, ment as law is analogous to the textualisa-
placed to the left or right of corpse, the the magistrate of Shahabad was reprimand- tion of discourse. Opinions pronounced on
direction of pyre, and so on. A third ed for preventing an illegal sati by persua- particular cases became rules applicable to
response was to marginalise certain vyawas- sion where he could have employed force. all cases. Thus the meaning of sati became
thas. A telling example of such strategic Magistrates were also censured for being 'fixed'; in other words, a sati that met cer-
marginalisation is the fate of Mrityunjoy over-zealous. Thus in 1819, the magistrate tain criteria could be identified as authen-
Vidyalankar's vyawastha, relegated to the for Bheerbhoosn district was criticised for tic. Once 'textualised', in this instance
appendix of the Nizamat Adalat proceedings requiring previous intimation for perform- through systematic writing, colonial officials
of 1817, with no more than a mention in the ing sati when there was no order to this ef- could and did interpret the vyawasthas in
main text. This vyawastha systematically fect on the statute books. Given the impor- ways that both reflected and did not reflect
called into question the colonial rationale tance of detail to such "a penal mapping of
the intentions of pundits. Given that a state-
of 'a scriptural sanction for sati and ques- the social body",60 magistrates were com- ment of the particular became generalised,
tioned its status as an act of virtue. Vidya- pelled to record details and reprimanded for
it obviously no longer had as its reference
lankar pointed out that as a form of suicide reports that were "totally destitute of the initial interaction that produced it.
it was debatable whether sati was consonant remark'61 The consistency of the Nizamat Finally, the enforcement of vyawasthas as
with the srutis which forbade any wilful Adalat on this score drew the approval of law automatically extended their relevance
abridgement on life. Further he noted that the Governor General and his Council who beyond those whose situation had initially
the ultimate goal of all Hindus was selfless commended them in 1820 on the "minute- elicited them.
absorption in a divine essence, a union ness with which the Nizamat Adaulut have The textualisation of the pundits' dis-
which was said to flow not from action like entered on the examination of the returns course on sati also had as a consequence the
sati, performed with a view to reward, but from the several districts."62 elimination of human agency. If vyawasthas
from devotion and contemplation of the There is no doubt that despite the profess- grounded in specific contexts were made
ed colonial policy of religious non-inter-
divine. Given this a life of austerity of sexual autonomous the result was also to create an
abstinence, as implied by ascetic widow- ference, the process by which knowledge on 'imaginative construct' that did not repre-
hood, emerged as an equally if not more sati was produced for legal enforcement en- sent any particular sati. This ideal typical
meritorious act. sured that the concept of sati generated was representation of sati denied the possibility
Vidyalankar's vyawastha contained suf- distinctly 'colonial'. As the examples above of sati as the conscious enactment of a social
ficient scriptural justification for prohibitingindicate, despite thf involvement of brahminpractice. Such erasure of human agency ef-
sati. It was however ignored. Continual pundits, the privilege of the final authori- fectively put the operation of Hindu culture
reinscription of sati into a scriptural tradi- tative interpretation of their vyawasthas was into a timeless present in which passive
tion despite evidence to the contrary points appropriated by colonial officials. For it wasnatives remained eternally yoked to religion.
to the arbitrariness of meanings imposed by Nizamat Adalat judges,' the Governor In this context it is interesting that many of
a colonial reading of vyawasthas. If tne con- General and his Council who determined the descriptions of sati written and used by
struct of sati thus produced is specifically which vyawasthas were 'essential' and which abolitionists in their arguments are nar-
'peripheral'. The position of the brahmin
'colonial'. it can also be argued that 'religion' ratives of sati the phenomenon, not of any
in this discourse emerges merely as that partpundits was ambiguous. The fact of being specific incident.
of culture that colonial power chooses not native simultaneously privileged and The following description of a 'typical
to interdict. If for some reason it was decided devalued them as reliable sources. They were sat? by the magistrate R M Bird, is a perfect-
to prohibit a practice the strategy was to dis- critical to making the scriptures accessible ly textualised example:
count its claim to being 'religious' in a col- to colonial officials. But they were also the
If it were desired to portray a scene which
onial reading of the scriptures. In the end "artful classes" against whom it was the mis-
should thrill with horror every heart, not en-
this is what happened in the case of sati. Of sion of colonisation to protect "the simple". tirely dead to the touch of human sympathy,
course it was not quite as simple as this for This process by which this construct of it would suffice to describe a father, regard-
as we have seen, sati's scriptural status was sati was produced exemplifies the textualised less of the affection of his tender child, in
problematised long before the practice was nature of the discourse. Here I draw on the having already suffered one of the severest
prohibited. Ultimately abolition was legis- work of Paul Ricoeur.63 Ricoeur illustrates miseries which flesh is heir to, with tearless
lated when it was deemed feasible. However,the process of textualisation, analysing what eye leading forth a spectacle to the assembled
happens to 'discourse' or 'speech' when it
this was not the basis on which the discourse multitude, who with barbarous cries demand
was articulated. becomes 'textualised' for instance, in the sacrifice, and unrelentingly delivering up
In the meantime, while sati was still con- language, action or ritual. Contrasting the unconscious and unresisting victim to an
ceptualised as 'religious' official policy, discourse with language, Ricoeur points out untimely death, accompanied by the most
whatever its claim to non-interference, was that discourse is realised temporally, it has crpel tortures.65
to ensure adherence to the official concep- a subject who speaks, "a world which it Bird here describes sati in which the widow,
tion of a 'true' sati. A coherent, unam- claims to describe, to express or to repre-relatives and spectators all play parts which
biguous definition of sati was an essential sent",MI and a person who is being address-are predictable given what has been said here
prerequisite to this policy. We have already ed. In the example at hand, the pundit's about colonial representation of each of
traced how such clarity was achieved. Atten- vyawastha is analogous to discourse. their roles. That such textualisation also
tiveness to the details of practice was another Vyawasthas, like speech, had as their denies the widow subjectivity has also been
aspect of this policy. Official watchfulness reference a specific context, as opinions ex- noted.
was made possible by the systematic collec- pressed by the pundits on specific situations In Ricoeur's expanded sense of the term
tion and tabulation of data on each sati. In which took into account particular needs. 'textualisation', cultures are 'textualised' in
addition to personal data on the widow and The textualisation of such discourse, a number of ways. Myths, folklore, epics,
her deceased husband, the time, place and according to Ricoeur, results in the fixation rituals and other artifacts express and
mode of burning, magistrates were also of meaning, its dissociation from any reiterate to a society ifs cultural values.
authorial intention, the display of non-
given explicit instructions to "not allow the Ricoeur and Geertz66 among others have
most minute particular to efscape observa- ostensive references and a universal range of
interpreted such cultural expressions in the

WS-38

This content downloaded from

103.158.43.19 on Wed, 24 Jan 2024 04:41:07 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
 ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL WEEKLY Review of Women Studies April 1986

manner of texts. In arguing that the colonial assurance that the process attests mainly to tion with scripture was reproduced. In other
discourse textualised sati, I am not sug- the arbitrariness of meanings imposed by of-words, arguments for and against social
gesting that Indian society was not textualis-ficial readings of vyawasthas. reform were articulated, .at least in part,
ed in the pre-colonial period, merely that the However arbitrary or contingent nine- upon a peculiarly colonial construction of
colonial mode of textualising was one that teenth century official interpretations might tradition. Put another way, official discourse
privileged writing and that such writing pro- have been, some of these assumptions shaped the nature of indigenous counter
duced consequences of domination, in- remain with us today, both in the scholar- discourses in quite specific ways.
cluding those discussed in this paper. ship on sati or more generally in our Finally, analysis of the official discourse
Finally, of course, the discourse on sati understanding of Indian society. It is the on sati suggests a less sharp distinction than
is a discourse of power. It illustrates remarkable endurance of some of these ideas has hitherto been proposed between Orien-
dramatically Foucault's compelling thesis that confirms.the contemporary relevance of talists and Anglicists. The commonalities
that knowledge is produced within the this investigation. For example, much of the underlying their perspectives are significant.
matrix of power and that power operates scholarly work on sati reproduces the no- As such, the issue is raised of the extent to
through the deployment of knowledge. The tion of sati as an essentially religious prac- which the Anglicist programme for social
relationship between the colonial official tice.67 One consequence of this is to assume engineering was determined by Orientalist
and pundit was clearly interwoven by power a transhistorical significance for the pheno- analysis of Indian society.
while the production and accumulation of menon, a perspective that preclude the possi-
knowledge about sati enabled both attention bility of sati being the product of different
to detail and the redefinition and redistribu- factors at different times. Dorothy Stein even Notes
tion of sati into its 'legal' and 'illegal' forms.
goes so far as to suggest that the concept 1 For a straightforward history of colonial
of sati might be more important than its state policy, A Mukhopadhyay, 'Sati as a
V
practice.68 Such as approach lacks ex- Social Institution in Bengal', Bengal Past
Conclusion planatory value; it cannot, for example, ex- and Present, 75: 99-115; K Mittra, 'Suppres-
In this paper I have examined the firstplain of regional variation in the incidence of sion of Suttee in the Province of Cuttack',
the nineteenth century debates on the status sati. Not all academic work shares this Bengal Past and Present, 46: pp 125-31;
perspective. Although he does not say so G Seed, 'The Abolition of Suttee in
of women in India. These debates arose in
himself, Sharma's article on the history of Bengal', History, October, 1955, pp 286-99.
the context of determining an appropriate
western response to sati conclusively For a 'colonial' account, E J Thompson,
colonial policy on such matters as sati which
documents first, that the meaning of sati was "Suttee: A Historical and Philosophical
were seen to mark the depressed position of
Enquiry into the Hindu Rite of Widow Bur-
women in Indian society, the reform of historically variable and second, that its
ning", London, Allen and Unwin, 1928. For
which was held to be part of the regenerating meaning was bitterly contested in the nine-
a general but very suggestive history of
mission of colonisation. I have treated the teenth century.69 Also, in Ashis Nandy's
western responses, A Sharma, 'Suttee: A
debate as discourse and focused on the work, we have the beginnings of an analysis
Study in Western Reactions', in this
assumptions about Indian society crucial to of sati as a practice rooted in temporal and
"Threshold of Hindu-Buddhist Studies",
this analysis-the hegemony of religious spatial contexts.70
Calcutta, Minerva, 1978, pp 83-111. For a
texts, native obedience to its injunctions, and The discourse on sati was by no means the provocative psycho-social analysis, A Nancy,
a scriptural sanction for sati-all of which first time colonial officials accorded primary 'Sati: A Nineteenth Century Tale of
are problematised by material in the Parlia- significance to religion. The codification of Women, Violence and Protest'9 p V C Joshi
mentary Papers. scriptural law as civil law in 1772 had already (ed); "Rammohun Roy and the Process of
For instance, diversity in the mode of enshrined its importance.7' The enforce- Modernisation in India"' Delhi, Vikas, 1975,
carrying out satiand regional variation in ment of scriptural law as civil law had pp 168-94. For contemporary feminist
analyses, D K Stein, 'Women to Burn:
its incidence highlight the fact that textual extended the applicability of brahmanic
traditjon was actively negotiated. Similarly, scripture hitherto limited to the twice-born Suttee as a Normative Institution', Signs,
1978, 4(2): pp 253-68; M Daly, "Gyn/
both the resistance of some widows to coer- castes to all colonial subjects. Thus was
cion and what appears as the willingness of established a particular relationship betweenEcology", Boston, Beacon, 1978.
scripture and society, a relationship which 2 For a succinct formulation of this perspec-
others to commit sati signal the fact that
was bolstered each time, as in the case of sati tive as it relates to sati, C A Bayley, 'From
women had a will of their own and acted
in Bengal, colonial officials privileged Ritual to Ceremony: Death Ritual in Hindu
on their own behalf. Finally, whatever the North India', in J Whaley (ed), "Mirrors of
official claims for sati as a practice founded as authentic the scriptural tradition and
Mortality: Studies in the Social History of
in the Hindu faith, attention to the process marginalised the importance of custom. Death". London, Europa, 1981, pp 173-74.
by which knowledge about sati was produc- I suggest that this designation of the scrip- 3 I am arguing that this conception was
ed illustrates that officials interpreted the tural tradition as 'true' was to have an distinctly 'colonial' not by means of com-
responses of pundits in particular ways, with important bearing on the nineteenth century parison with some pre-colonial conception
the consequence that the construct of sati debates on the status of women. For these of sati but rather, as will become clear in
that was legally enforced was specifically debates were a mode through which colonialthe course of the paper, with reference to
'colonial'. Officials employed a number of power was both enforced and contested. Col- the way a particular knowledge about sati
tactics in reading the vyawasthas of pundits. onial officials sought to justify interferencewas produced under colonialism.
Among these are the following: they privileg- in indigenous tradition, even colonial rule 4 B S Cohn in a lecture at University of
ed vyawasthas based on religious texts over itself, on the basis of women's low position California, Santa Cruz, February 1981.
those that drew on custom. They also in- in indigenous tradition as also in contem- 5 M Foucault, "Discipline and Punish", New
York, Vintage,. 1979.
sisted that pundits produce explicit scriptural porary society. Divergent indigenous male
6 E Said, "Orientalism"', New York, Vintage,
injunction and would accept inference only elite responses to this challenge were to argue 1979.
where such unambiguous support could not either that such poor treatment was contrary
7 R Thapar, "The Past and Prejudice',
be generated. Of course, such tactics were to tradition-Roy's strategy in the case of
National Book Trust of India, 1975, p 3.
not used with any consistency. Some vyawas- sati-or that women approved of their tradi-
8 R Guha (ed), "Subaltern Studies 1: Writings
thas (like that of Vidyalankar) were simplytional lot-the conservative Hindu response
ignored. Thus, whatever their insistence on
on South Asian History and Society"'
-or that this tradition was bankrupt-the Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1982.
having arrived at a concept of sati that was view among others of Henry Derozio. In all 9 There is a substantial literature on the
true to the scriptures, we can state with three instances, the official equation of tradi- history of law under colonialism, a discus-

WS-39

This content downloaded from

103.158.43.19 on Wed, 24 Jan 2024 04:41:07 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms
Review of Women Studies April 1986 ECONOMIC AND POIITICAL WEEKLY

sion of which is beyond the scope of this Rudolph and Rudolph, op cit; Appadurai, 61 PP, 1821, p 344.
paper. See especially: J D M Derret, op cit. 62 PP, 1823, xvii, p 354.
"Religion, Law and the State in India", 52 Ibid, p 134. 63 P Ricoeur, 'The Model of the Text: Mean-
London, Faber and Faber, 1968, Chs 8, 9; 53 Ibid, pp 408-9. ingful Action Considered as a Text', Social
Lloyd I Rudolph and Suzanne H Rudolph, 54 Ibid, p 322. Research, 1971, 38:3.
"The Modernity of Tradition", Chicago, 55 Ibid, p 407. 64 Ricoeur, op cit, p 531.
University of Chicago Press, 1967, Part III; 56 Loc cit. 65 PP, 1825, xxiv, p 243.
B S Cohn, 'Anthropological Notes on 57 Loc cit. 66 C Geertz, 'Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese
Disputes and Law in India, American 58 In this context it is interesting to note that Cockfight', Daedalus, 1972: 101: pp 1-37.
Anthropologist, 67, December 1965, the dictionary definition of vyawastha tells 67 Mitra, Mukhopadhyay, Seed, Stein, Thomp-
pp 88-122; D A Washbrook, "Law State and its own tale of colonial legacy. Vyawastha son, op cit.
Agrarian Society in Colonial India", is variously defined as 'settlement, 'deci- 68 Stein, op cit.
Modern Asian Studies, 15, 3, 1981, sion'. 'statute, 'rule', 'law' 'legal decision' or 69 Sharma, op cit.
pp 649-721. Also noteworthy is A Appa- opinion applied to the written extracts from
70 Nandy, op cit.
durai's discussion of law in his "Worship the codes of law or adjustment of con-
and Conflict under Colonial Rule", Cam- tradictory passages in different codes. 71 B S Cohn, 'Notes on the History and Study
bridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981. Source: A Sanskrit-English Dictionary com- of Indian Society and Culture, in "Struc-
10 Parliamentary Papers on Hindu Widows piled by Sir Monier Williams. ture and Change in Indian Society", Singer
(hereafter PP), 1821, xviii, p 316. 59 PP, 1821, p 327. and Cohn (eds), Chicago, Aldine, 1968,
11 Loc cit. 60 Foucault, op cit, p 78. p 10.
12 Ibid, pp 322-6.
13 Vyawasthas were the written legal opinions
submitted by pundits in response to such
questions. See also Note 58.
Review of Women Studies
14 PP, 1821, pp 332-3.
15 Ibid, pp 335-8.
16 PP, 1824, xxiii, p 353. Past Issues
17 PP, 1821, p 513.
April 1985
18 PP, 1824, p 378.
19 Loc cit. Changing Consciousness of Central American Women
20 PP, 1830, xxviii, pp 1009-11.
-Bobbye Suckle Ortiz
21 Analysis of sati by caste for 1823 is as
follows: brahmin: 234; kayasth: 25; vaisya: Household as a First Stage in Study of Urban Working-Class Women
14; sudra: 292 (PP, 1825). It is clear that the -Alice Thorner and Jyoti Ranadive
practice was disproportionately high among
the numerically smaller brahmin caste.
Wife-Husband Relations-Differences between Peasant and Modern
22 J K Majumdar (ed), "Raja Rammohun Roy Professional-Class Families in North-Eastern Italy
and Progressive Movements in India: A -Luisa Accati Levi
Selection from Records, 1775-1845",
Women's Employment and the Household: Some Findings from Calcutta
Calcutta, 1941, p 141.
23 PP, 1821, p 321. -Hilary Standing
24 Ibid, pp 521-3. Impact of Household Contract System on Women in Rural India
25 Loc cit. -Govind Kelkar
26 Loc cit.
27 Loc cit. Women's Domestic Work and Economic Activity
28 Loc cit. -Gita Sen and Chiranjib Sen
29 Ibid, p 529.
October 1985
30 PP, 1830, p 918.
31 PP, 1828, xxiii, p 169.
Positivism and Natiogalism: Womanhood and Crisis in Nationalist Fict
32 PP, 1830, p 918.
Bankimchandra's Anandmath
33 PP, 1821, p 532.
-Jasodhara Bagchi
34 Ibid, p 410.
35 Ibid, p 411. Ideologies on Women in Nineteenth Century Britain, 1850s-70s
36 Loc cit. -Sudesh Vaid
37 Ibid, p 412.
Sarojini Naidu: Romanticism and Resistance
38 Ibid, p 424.
-Meena Alexander
39 Ibid, p 321.
Gender and Imperialism in British India
40 PP, 1830, p 906.
41 PP, 1821, p 506.
-Joanne Liddle, Rama Joshi

42 Ibid, p 507. Freedom Denied-Indian Women and Indentureship in Trinidad and Tobago,
43 Ibid, p 404. 1845-1917
44 Ibid, p 400. -Rhoda Reddock
45 Ibid, p 322. 'City' and 'Countryside' in Colonial Tanganyika
46 Loc cit.
-Marjorie Mbilinyi
47 Loc cit.
48 Ibid, p 325. For copies write to:
49 Ibid, p 322. The-Manager,
50 Ibid, p 406.
Economic and Political Weekly
51 The undermining of custom and customary
'Skylark' 284 Shahid Bhagatsingh Road,
law was not particular to sati but was a
Bombay 400 038
general feature of colonial rule and has been
noted among others by Derrett, op cit,

WS-40

This content downloaded from

103.158.43.19 on Wed, 24 Jan 2024 04:41:07 +00:00
All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms