The English Works of Raja Rammohun Roy/Volume II/Address to Lord William Bentinck
My Lord :
With hearts filled with the deepest gratitute, and impressed with the utmost reverence, we, the undersigned native inhabitants of Calcutta and its vicinity, beg to be permitted to approach your Lordship, to offer personally our humble but warmest acknowledgments for the invaluable protection which your Lordship’s government has recently afforded to the lives of the Hindoo female part of your subjects, and for your humane and successful exertions in rescuing us for ever, from the gross stigma hitherto attached to our character as wilful murderers of females, and zealous promoters of the practice of suicide.
Excessive jealousy of their female connexions, operating on the breasts of Hindu princes, rendered those despots regardless of the common bonds of society, and of their incumbent duty as protectors of the weaker sex, insomuch that, with a view to prevent every possibility of their widows forming subsequent attachments, they availed themselvs of their arbitrary power, and under the cloak of religion, introduced the practice of burning widows alive under the first impressions of sorrow or despair, immediately after the demise of their husbands. This system of female destruction, being admirably suited to the selfish and servile disposition of the populace, has been eagerly followed by them, in defiance of the most sacred authorities, such as the Oopunishuds or the principal parts of the Veds, and the Bhugvud Geeta, as well as of the direct commandment of Munoo, the first and the greatest of all the legislators, conveyed in the following words: ‘Let a widow continue till death forgiving all injuries, performing austere duties, avoiding every sensual pleasure,’ &c. (Ch. 5, v. 158.)
While in fact fulfilling the suggestions of their jealousy they pretended to justify this hideous practice by quoting some passages from authorities of evidently inferior weight, sanctioning the wilful ascent of a widow on the flaming pile of her husband, as if they were offering such female sacrifices in obedience to the dictates of the Shastrus and not from the influence of jealousy. It is however, very fortunate that the British government under whose protection the lives of both the males and females of India have been happily placed by Providence, has, after deligent inquiry, ascertained that even those inferior authorities, permitting wilful ascent by a widow to the flaming pile, have been practically set aside, and that, in gross violation of their language and spirit, the relatives of widows have, in the burning of those infatuated females almost invariably used to fasten them down on the pile, and heap over them large quantities of wood and other materials adequate to the prevention of their escape—an outrage on humanity which has been frequently perpetrated under the indirect sanction of native officers, undeservedly employed for the security of life and preservation of peace and tranquillity.
In many instances, in which the vigilance of the magistrate has deterred the native officers, of police from indulging their own inclination, widows have either made their escape from the pile after being partially burnt, or retracted their resolution to burn when brought to the awful task, to the mortifying disappointment of the instigators: while in some instances the resolution to die has been retracted, on pointing out to the widows the impropriety of their intended undertaking, and on promising them safety and maintenance during life, notwithstanding the severe reproaches liable thereby to be heaped on them by their relatives and friends.
In consideration of circumstances so disgraceful in themselves, and so incompatible with the principle of British rule, your Lordship in Council, fully impressed with the duties required of you by justice and humanity, has deemed it incumbent on you, for the honour of the British name, to come to the resolution, that the lives of your female Hindoo subjects should be henceforth more efficiently protected; that the heinous sin of cruelty to females may no longer be committed, and that the most ancient and purest system of Hindoo religion should not any longer be set at nought by the Hindoos themselves. The magistrates, in consequence, are, we understand, positively ordered to execute the resolution of government by all possible means.
We are, my Lord, reluctantly restrained by the consideration of the nature of your exalted situation, from indicating our inward feelings by presenting any valuable offering as commonly adopted on such occasions; but we should consider ourselves highly guilty of insincerity and ingratitude, if we remained negligently silent when urgently called upon by our feelings and conscience to express publicly the gratitude we feel for the overlasting obligation you have graciously conferred on the Hindoo community at large. We, however, are at a loss to find language sufficiently indicative even of a small portion of the sentiments we are desirous of expressing on the occasion; we must therefore conclude this address with entreating that your Lordship will condescendingly accept our most grateful acknowledgments for this act of benevolence towards us, and will pardon the silence of those who, though equally partaking of the blessing bestowed by your Lordship, have through ignorance or prejudice omitted to join us in this common cause.
The following was the reply of Lord William Bentinck to the above address:—
“It is very satisfactory for me to find that, according to the opinions of so many respectable and intelligent Hindoos, the practice which has recently been prohibited, not only was not required by the rules of their religion, but was at variance with those writings which they deem to be of the greatest force and authority. Nothing but a reluctance to inflict punishment for acts which might be conscientiously believed to be enjoined by religious precepts, could have induced the British government at any time to permit, within territories under its protection, an usage so violently opposed to the best feelings of human nature. Those who present this address are right in suppossing that by every nation in the world, except the Hindoos themselves, this part of their customs has always been made a reproach against them, and nothing so strangely contrasted with the better features of their own national character, so inconsistent with the affections which unite families, so destructive of the moral principles on which society is founded, has ever subsisted amongst a people in other respects so civilized. I trust that the reproach is removed for ever; and I feel a sincere pleasure in thinking that the Hindoos will thereby be exalted in the estimation of mankind, to an extent in some degree proportioned to the repugnance which was felt for the usage which has now ceased.”—Ed.
- ↑ This remarkable address was presented on the 16th January 1830 to Lord William Bentinck upon the passing of the Act for the abolition of the Suttee by Ram Mohun Roy, Callynauth Roy, Huree Hur Dutt, and others on behalf of 300 inhabitants of Calcutta. There were two addresses prepared, one being in Bengali read by Baboo Callynath Roy, the other, a translation of the former in English, read by Baboo Huree Hur Dutt. There is very reason to believe that the adress was drawn up by Ram Mohun Roy from its language and from the sentiments conveyed in it.—Ed.