3 1 0 2 r e b m e c e D 6 2 7 2 : 2 1 t a ] e r t n e C T E N B I L F N I [ y b d e d a o l n w o D Sovereignty and Social Reform in India 3 1 0 2 r e The British prohibition of sati (the funeral practice of widow immolation) in b m 1829 has been considered an archetypal example of colonial social reform. It e c was not the end of the story, however, as between 1830 and 1860, British e D East India Company officials engaged in a debate with the Indian rulers of 6 the Rajput and Maratha princely states of North West India about the pro- 2 7 hibition and suppression of sati in their territories. This book examines the 2 2: debates that brought about legislation in these areas, arguing that they were 1 t instrumental in setting the terms of post-colonial debates about sati and, a ] more generally, in defining the parameters of British involvement in Indian e tr social and religious issues. n e This book provides a reinterpretation of the major themes of sovereignty, C T authority and social reform in colonial South Asian history by examining the E shifting pragmatic, political, moral and ideological forces which underpinned N B British policies on and attitudes to sati. The author illuminates the complex LI ways in which East India Company officials negotiated the limits of their F N own authority in India, their conceptions of the nature and extent of Indian [I princely sovereignty, and argues that the so-called ‘civilising mission’ was y b often dependent on local circumstances and political expediencies rather than d e overarching imperial principles; the book also evaluates Indian responses to d a the supposed modernising Enlightenment discourse. o nl This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of South Asian w history aswell as British colonial studies. o D AndreaMajorisalecturerinWiderWorldHistoryattheUniversityofLeeds, where she works on social and gender issues in colonial South Asia. She is author of Pious Flames: European Encounters with Sati, 1500–1830 (Oxford UniversityPress,NewDelhi,2006)andeditorofSati:AHistoricalAnthology (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2007). Routledge/Edinburgh South Asian Studies Series Edited by: Crispin Bates and the Editorial Committee of the Centre for South Asian Studies, Edinburgh University, UK 3 1 0 2 r e The Routledge/Edinburgh South Asian Studies Series is published in associa- b m tion with the Centre for South Asian Studies, Edinburgh University – one ce of the leading centres for South Asian Studies in the UKwith a strong inter- e D disciplinary focus. This series presents research monographs and high-quality 6 edited volumes as well as textbooks on topics concerning the Indian sub- 2 7 continent from the modern period to contemporary times. It aims to advance 2 understanding of the key issues in the studyof South Asia, and contributions : 2 1 include works by experts in the social sciences and the humanities. In accor- at dance with the academic traditions of Edinburgh, we particularly welcome e] submissions which emphasise the social in South Asian history, politics, r t sociologyandanthropology,baseduponthickdescriptionofempiricalreality, n Ce generalised to provide original and broadly applicable conclusions. T The series welcomes new submissions from young researchers as well as E establishedscholarsworkingonSouthAsia,fromanydisciplinaryperspective. N B LI 1 Gender and Sexuality in India F Selling sex in Chennai N I Salla Sariola [ y b d 2 Savagery and Colonialism in the Indian Ocean e d Power, pleasure and the Andaman Islanders a o Satadru Sen l n w o 3 Sovereignty and Social Reform in India D British colonialism and the campaign against sati, 1830–60 Andrea Major Sovereignty and Social Reform in India British colonialism and the campaign – against sati, 1830 60 3 1 0 2 r Andrea Major e b m e c e D 6 2 7 2 : 2 1 t a ] e r t n e C T E N B I L F N I [ y b d e d a o l n w o D Firstpublished2011 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,Oxon,OX144RN SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 3 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an 1 informabusiness 0 2 r This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2011. e b To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s m collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk e c De ©2011AndreaMajor 6 The right of Andrea Major to be identified as author of this work 2 hasbeenassertedbyherinaccordancewiththeCopyright, 7 DesignsandPatentAct1988. 2 : All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or 2 1 reproducedorutilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical, t orothermeans,nowknownorhereafterinvented,including a ] photocopyingandrecording,orinanyinformationstorageor e retrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthepublishers. r t n BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData e C AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary T LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData E Major, Andrea. N Sovereignty and social refor m in India : British colonialism and the B I campaignagainstSati,1830–1860/AndreaMajor. L p.cm.–(Routledge/EdinburghSouthAsianstudiesseries) F N Includes bibliographical references and index. I 1.Sati–India–History–19thcentury.2.Women–India–History–19thcentury. by [ A3.sSiao–cAiadlmreifnoirstmra–tIinodni–aH–Histiostroyr–y1–91t9hthcecnetnutruyr.y5..4I.nGdirae–aCtoBlroitnaiizna–tiCoonl–onies– d History–19thcentury.6.India–History–Britishoccupation,1765–1947. e I.Title. d a GT3276.A2M35 2010 o 954.03'1–dc22 2010014135 l n w o ISBN 0-203-84178-6 Master e-book ISBN D ISBN 978-0-415-58050-2 (hbk) ISBN 978-0-203-84178-5 (ebk) Contents 3 1 0 2 er Acknowledgements vii b m Map: India in the 1830s viii e c e D 6 Introduction 1 2 7 2 1 Chivalry, sacrifice and devotion: imagining sati in : 2 1 Rajput society 18 t a ] e 2 Princes, politics and pragmatism: the formation of r nt British policy on sati in the princely states 41 e C T 3 Victims, perpetrators and self-determined sacrifices: E N strategies for suppressing sati in the princely states 79 B I L F N Afterword 115 I [ Glossary of Indian words 119 y b Notes 121 d e Bibliography 143 d a Index 150 o l n w o D 3 1 0 2 r e b m e c e D 6 2 7 2 : 2 1 t a ] e r t n e C T E N B I L F N I [ y b d e d a o l n w o D Acknowledgements 3 1 0 2 r e This book arose out of doctoral and postdoctoral research carried out at the b m University of Edinburgh between 1999 and 2006. Numerous people and ce institutions have assisted and supported me during this time and have helped e D to make this book a reality. I would particularly like to thank the members 6 and associates of the University of Edinburgh’s Centre for South Asian 2 7 Studies, who have all contributed, in their own ways, to making Edinburgh 2 such a rewarding place to pursue the study of the subcontinent. In particular : 12 Roger and Patricia Jeffery, Marcus Daecshel, Ian Duffield and especially at Crispin Bates have been invaluable sources of advice and support. I would e] alsoliketothankDavidWashbrookforhissuggestionthattwoshortchapters r t at the end of a PhD thesis might be expanded into a book, as well as all the n Ce otherswho helped during this transformative process. T Financially, this book would never even have been two short chapters E without doctoral funding supplied bythe then Arts and Humanities Research N B Board (AHRB), and it certainly would not have become a book without an LI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) postdoctoral fellowship, held F between2004 and 2006. Iwould like to thank both bodies for theirsupport. I N I would also like to thank the British Academy and the Carnegie Trust for the [ y Universities of Scotland for the smaller research grants that have contributed b d to this and other projects. Research for this book has been carried out in e d Britain and India, primarily at the British Library, the National Library of a o Scotland, the National Archives of India, the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial l n Libraryand the State Archivesof Rajasthan and I would like to thank all the w o staff at these wonderful institutions for all their help, advice and assistance. D Finally,Iwouldliketothankmyfamily–myparentsVerenaandAlan,my in-laws Ian and Margaret and my husband Garry – for all their love and supportandfortheirunstintinggenerositywiththeirtimeandchildcareskills, which have allowed me to carry out the work needed to produce this book and bring it to publication. Without you all I would not be able to dowhat I do and I love and appreciate you more than I can say. 3 1 0 2 r e b m e c e D 6 2 7 2 : 2 1 t a ] e r t n e C T E N B I L F N I [ y b d e d a o l wn Map of India in the 1830s. First published in ‘An Historical Atlas of the Indian o Peninsular’ by C. Collin Davies, (first published in 1896) reprinted Madras: Oxford D UniversityPressIndia1949,1959. Introduction 3 1 0 2 er Sati: colonial contexts and postcolonial debates b m On 4 September 1987, in the village of Deorala in Rajasthan, an 18-year-old e ec womanburnttodeathonherhusband’sfuneralpyre.RoopKanwarhadbeen D married for just eight months when her husband, Mal Singh, died suddenly. 6 2 Within hours she too was dead and thousands of onlookers were celebrating 7 her deification and proclaiming her a satimata (‘sati mother’). The word sati, 2 2: whichderivesfromtheSanskrit‘sat’ortruth/virtue,has multiple meanings.It t 1 directly translates as ‘virtuous woman’ and is most commonly used in Hindu a ] culture to denote awoman who displays exceptional wifely devotion, usually, re though not exclusively, by following her deceased husband onto the pyre.1 In t n the colonial period, the British adopted the term, in its anglicised form e C ‘suttee’, to denote the actual rite of widow immolation, aswell as the woman T who undertook it, with the result that the word sati is now used for both the E N practice and the practitioner. Although the use of the word to describe the B custom suggests that sati is something that one performs, it is most correctly I L F understood in its Hindu context as something one becomes; with the act of N immolation representing only the outward manifestation of the woman’s I y [ accumulated sat (virtue). Although always rare and exceptional, sati has long b been a sensational and controversialcustom that has divided both Indian and ed ‘western’ opinion for centuries, eliciting reverence, horror, praise and con- d a demnation in almost equal measure. o l In the wake of the Roop Kanwar sati, a heated debate raged in Indian n w newspapers and journals, as well as on the streets of Deorala and the o D Rajasthani city of Jaipur, as feminists and liberals clashed with orthodox, pro-sati, Hindu groups. The controversy that followed became increasingly complex and multifaceted. Initially those who denounced the supposed sati concentrated on whether Roop Kanwar had gone voluntarily to her death, or been coerced onto the pyre, but as the volume and vociferousness of the debate increased, feminists and liberals also began to publicly question the extent to which such a distinction was valid at all. Questions about the degree of agency Roop Kanwar exhibited during the sati were about more than the judicial distinction between suicide and homicide; they raised