It offers a representative sample of writings on the practice and idea of sati
SATI — A Historical Anthology: Andrea Major — Editor; Oxford University Press, YMCA Library Building, Jai Singh Road, New Delhi-110001. Rs. 650.
There are many reasons to recommend this anthology. First, it offers a representative sample of writings on the practice and idea of sati, enabling the reader to go beyond the intuitive understanding of the elements that constitute the practice and the discourse on it. Secondly, it gives the reader a valuable introduction to the historiography on the subject updated with all the literature sparked by the Roop Kanwar tragedy at Deorala in 1987. The introduction is an excellent overview of the major debates that have emerged around the practice and will be universally welcomed by students. The only criticism that could be made is the tendency of the author/editor to interpret the anthology too closely and present it within a linear teleological frame which makes the narrative too staid and shorn of internal contradictions and inconsistencies.
Social history
The anthology is not without charm for the lay reader either. Some of the extracts — from classical Greek accounts to the notices of early European travellers, from unabashed Orientalists to the schizoid nationalists who took pride in India's self sacrificing women and at the same time condemned the practice — have much to offer. Among them are some tantalising snatches on the social history of 19th century India including the most unexpected of actors and agents. For instance, take the case of Manucci's observations in his story of Mughal India, where he speaks of the courage of his Armenian companion who rescued a woman from the flames and married her — an instance that is not only rich in detail but indicative of the kind of ties that merchant networks, like those of the Armenians maintained with local society by embracing its language, and striking marital bonds. Some extracts point to the policies adopted by the Mughal state; it regulated the custom through a combination of pragmatism and ideology and insisted on the bereaved women being supported to maintain their sons and dependents.
The "colonial" section is understandably best-documented, capturing the complexities of the debate that raged around the practice — how by the 1820s, there was an unequivocal rejection of the practice, as the balance of political and intellectual opinion shifted to the Anglicists in India and concomitantly there was a rising demand in Britain that the imperial presence in India be justified not in terms of economic gain alone but of the larger benefits it could generate for the indigenous population. Significant in this section is the way the modalities of the debate on the abolition of the custom were worked out in India and how subsequently the occasional occurrence of this practice was treated within the purview of colonial law. Similarly, the representations of the practice especially in early English writing are also rich and suggestive of the various factors that produced a very complex and ambivalent understanding of the practice and the psychology behind it.
Deorala tragedy
The final section details the various strands of debate that followed the Deorala tragedy and the conflicting interpretations and politics of sati as it emerged, in its modern incarnation, as a public spectacle staged with the endorsement of several sections of the local community. The incident exposed the intellectual bankruptcy of the state and the inefficacy of its apparatus. It also generated a debate that somewhere along the way became counterproductive and resulted in a sharp polarisation of opinion that was not just predicated on false premises but proved extremely invidious. Fortunately, thanks to the efforts of women activists and academics such as Sudesh Vaid, Kumkum Sangari, and Veena Oldenburg, we have had an effective reply to some of the arguments that were put forward by straightforward sanatan dharmis in defence of sati as well as to the more clever and polemic responses of a scholar like Ashis Nandy who saw the protest as an overreaction by the urban middle class, for which this was the only available way of retaining its legitimacy. However, what remains to be reaffirmed is that at the end of the day the murder of a widow — whether endorsed by custom, convenience or by the aura of a greater will — remains an act of brutalisation, a point which this anthology brings out only too graphically. For this, the editor needs to be commended and the volume is bound to find favour with students and researchers alike.
Printer friendly
page Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
