Question

Describe the various developments that led to the abolition of sati.

Answer 1

Instructions:
The answer to this question can be broken into 3 main parts:

• Explain the evil social practice of sati.
• Describe the initiation of the movement against the practice of sati and
• Describe how the practice of sati was abolished.

Solution:

• Sati was an evil social practice in which a widow was made to sit on the funeral pyre of her husband. The evil social practice prevailed in multiple regions of Bengal, southern, and western India.
• The fight for the abolition of sati was initiated by Raja Rammohan Roy as he lost his sister-in-law due to the cruel practice of sati.
• He later published his tract in which he pointed out that the rite of sati is not mentioned in the sastras. His tracts were later used by Serampore missionaries to create awareness for the abolition of sati.
• Lord William Bentinck on 4 December 1829 passed Regulation XVII, according to which the practice of sati was banned and considered a punishable offence by the criminal court.