English Women in Imperial India
English Female Perspective on Sati Ritual
The English have been occupying India since the 1600’s to expand their economy and power. Though, during the 17th century to the 19th century it was very uncommon for English women to join their husbands or fellow Englishmen in India [1]. Most women stayed home in India to take care of the children, because an English education was thought to be a necessity. However, Englishwomen Fanny Parks was one of the few women of the time to have the privilege to explore Indian landscape, tradition, and culture.
Fanny Parks moved to Calcutta, India in November of 1822 when she was twenty-eight years old. She relocated to join her newly-wed husband Charles Parks, who worked with The East Indian Company as a writer. The couple married March of 1822 and lived mostly around Allahabad, India which is in north-east India close to the Jumna and Ganges rivers. During her stay from 1822 to 1845 Fanny Parks kept a diary to document her day to day observations and experiences with Indian society, culture, and religion[1].
On November 7, 1828 Fanny Parks wrote about a common ritual of the Hindi religion called Sati. During this tradition a widowed wife is burned alive with her husband’s deceased body to prove her eternal devotion to her husband[2]. Like many of her diary entries, Fanny herself did not witness this ritual first hand, but rather her husband did and later told her about it. Though, after reading this source is clear it was common for British women to view an Indian cultural ritual (such as the sati) to be strange or disturbing because of their English bias, English influence back home, and female dominance in their own culture.
During this time period there were no public airplanes or steamships, so generally those oversea exploring had a purpose, a job, or a mission; they were not just on vacation to relax and explore and exciting new culture. Most of these people were men on duty and very few women were able to experience the new colonies until about the later 1800’s when industrial steamships arrived[3]. Back in England all people knew about foreign lands either came from word of mouth or writings. By not experiencing the culture firsthand or having a proper background understanding of Indian culture/ritual it seems only natural they would look down upon it.
In Fanny Park’s account of the widowed wife being burned she states that the wife began to escape her burning after a couple moments of the ritual and suddenly “a Hindoo, […] raised his sword to strike her, and the poor wretch shrank back into the flames[4]”. This man was later taken to prison by English officials, because by English law the Sati could only be performed if it done voluntarily by the widowed wife. After the man was arrested the women jumped out of the flames and “when the crowd and the brothers of the dead man saw this, they called out, ‘Cut her down, knock her on the head with a bamboo; tie her hands and feet; and throw her in again;’ and rushed down to execute their murderous intention.[5]” Fanny then explains that the English officials rescued her and offered to care for her; she further exclaims they are the only reason the woman was still alive, because if they had not been there to protect her she would have been burned alive by her own people[6].
By including such gruesome details and inhumane comments the Hindu population made to explain how badly the Indian people wanted the woman burned alive, demonstrated Fanny Park’s English bias. Further demonstrating her bias, she paints the English officials out to be the widow’s heroic lifesavers who promise to take care of her afterword. Also, by simply casting the widow as a victim though the entry and calling her a “poor wretch” it is apparent that Fanny Parks sees herself as superior to the Indian woman.
Just as Fanny Parks wrote with a cultural English bias about the Sati in her diary entry, many of other writers, missionaries, and journalists did as well[7]. When the English back home are reading a bias source and are not factoring in the possible bias, they themselves are going to be likely to have the same bias towards the Indian culture. Trained by English culture, many English women saw themselves superior to other cultures, and this shows in Fanny Park’s diary entry[8].
Another reason Fanny Parks like most English women would view Indian Sati ritual to be disturbing is because they have family, friends, and fellow Englishmen back in England pressuring them to go against it or make Sati practices illegal. Many English had mixed feelings about the issue, but overall found it troubling to hear. The English looked down on the Hindu society, because they could not understand how they could allow their people to be killed in such a brutal manner[9].
When the English first traveled to India and started establishing trading posts in the 1500’s is when English journalists started writing about the Sati ritual and its religious purpose. This was a shocking subject for the English citizens to read about, though many praised the devotion of the wives. Although, later on when the East Indian Company started take more control of India during the 17th century stronger political and moral debates arose about permitting the Sati ritual. In the beginning, in order to maintain their power British rule deemed it legal to please Hindu religious groups; though, eventually in 1813 British rule judged the ritual legal only if the wife took part in the tradition voluntarily. This decision occurred because strong evangelical groups back in England continuously fought for the rights of the Indian widowed wives. “This legislation triggered intense debate in India and Britain both for and against sati. British missionaries as well as Indian advocates and opponents of sati sought sanction for their opposing positions in Hindu scriptural text”[10].
Overall, though all the debate over the legalization of the ritual it is likely an English woman would sympathize with the victimized widow and favor against the Sati practice. Additionally, with all the pressure from British back home, her husband employed at the East Indian Company, and British officials surrounding her it is understandable that Fanny Parks would view the ritual as unjust and want it to be outlawed.
Another possible reason an English woman might view the Sati ritual as disturbing is because English women are more represented and respected in their English culture in comparison to Indian women in Indian culture . Bring from England women are able to have important positions in the work force, become educated, and run the household. Overall, in English culture women can achieve more and have more of a voice in the home[11].
Though, English women did still not have equal rights and men were still the dominate finical providers of the family at the time, English women had more power and opportunity in their culture. In English culture if a woman put her mind to it she could support herself by creating an established profession for herself such as a nurse, teacher, doctor, journalist, poet, or secretary[12]. When women start supporting themselves, they become a supporting member of society and as result are respected and independent. Additionally many English women had goals and a mission, especially those traveling. Still most traveled to join their husbands they were still accompanied by “other groups of women who were driven by a sense of personal mission. Some, like the missionaries to the East went because they were sure God was calling them; some, more interested in the bodies than the souls of the Queen-Empress’s subjects, went as nurses; some were simply looking for the sheer excitement of discovering new people and places”[13].
Indian women on the other hand are not usually finically independent. These women must find a good husband to take care of them in order to be supported. This is also another reason why Hindu religion encourages the Sati ritual, because after a wife is widowed she has no finical support and is seen a burden to her family[14]. Fanny Park’s mentions an Indian widow commenting, “the women of my husband’s family have all been suttees, why should I bring disgrace upon them? I shall go to heaven, and afterwards re-appear on earth, and be married to a very rich man,” when asked ‘what good will being burned alive do you?”[15]. This quote demonstrate how much an Indian women’s life revolves around finding a good finically supportive husband, as if it was the most valuable reward to her.
This demonstrates just how different each type of the women’s role in the culture really was. Indian women mostly depended on a man’s finical support and English women are able to become finical supporters themselves. Overall when one has finical independence they feel and become a more respected and contributing member of their society because they play a bigger role.
Overall, Fanny Parks has a clear bias against the Sati Indian ritual in diary entry on November 7, 1828. One factor that could be contributing to the bias is her cultural English heritage. Additionally, Fanny Parks was surrounded in India with people who were against the Sati and had much influence from English back home against the Sati. Lastly, Fanny as English woman had more dominance within her culture in comparison to Indian women in theirs, which could lead to her viewing the ritual are cruel. Historically, these possible contributors help explain why Fanny Parks’ bias exists, in order to help understand English women’s’ mindsets at the time.
The English have been occupying India since the 1600’s to expand their economy and power. Though, during the 17th century to the 19th century it was very uncommon for English women to join their husbands or fellow Englishmen in India [1]. Most women stayed home in India to take care of the children, because an English education was thought to be a necessity. However, Englishwomen Fanny Parks was one of the few women of the time to have the privilege to explore Indian landscape, tradition, and culture.
Fanny Parks moved to Calcutta, India in November of 1822 when she was twenty-eight years old. She relocated to join her newly-wed husband Charles Parks, who worked with The East Indian Company as a writer. The couple married March of 1822 and lived mostly around Allahabad, India which is in north-east India close to the Jumna and Ganges rivers. During her stay from 1822 to 1845 Fanny Parks kept a diary to document her day to day observations and experiences with Indian society, culture, and religion[1].
On November 7, 1828 Fanny Parks wrote about a common ritual of the Hindi religion called Sati. During this tradition a widowed wife is burned alive with her husband’s deceased body to prove her eternal devotion to her husband[2]. Like many of her diary entries, Fanny herself did not witness this ritual first hand, but rather her husband did and later told her about it. Though, after reading this source is clear it was common for British women to view an Indian cultural ritual (such as the sati) to be strange or disturbing because of their English bias, English influence back home, and female dominance in their own culture.
During this time period there were no public airplanes or steamships, so generally those oversea exploring had a purpose, a job, or a mission; they were not just on vacation to relax and explore and exciting new culture. Most of these people were men on duty and very few women were able to experience the new colonies until about the later 1800’s when industrial steamships arrived[3]. Back in England all people knew about foreign lands either came from word of mouth or writings. By not experiencing the culture firsthand or having a proper background understanding of Indian culture/ritual it seems only natural they would look down upon it.
In Fanny Park’s account of the widowed wife being burned she states that the wife began to escape her burning after a couple moments of the ritual and suddenly “a Hindoo, […] raised his sword to strike her, and the poor wretch shrank back into the flames[4]”. This man was later taken to prison by English officials, because by English law the Sati could only be performed if it done voluntarily by the widowed wife. After the man was arrested the women jumped out of the flames and “when the crowd and the brothers of the dead man saw this, they called out, ‘Cut her down, knock her on the head with a bamboo; tie her hands and feet; and throw her in again;’ and rushed down to execute their murderous intention.[5]” Fanny then explains that the English officials rescued her and offered to care for her; she further exclaims they are the only reason the woman was still alive, because if they had not been there to protect her she would have been burned alive by her own people[6].
By including such gruesome details and inhumane comments the Hindu population made to explain how badly the Indian people wanted the woman burned alive, demonstrated Fanny Park’s English bias. Further demonstrating her bias, she paints the English officials out to be the widow’s heroic lifesavers who promise to take care of her afterword. Also, by simply casting the widow as a victim though the entry and calling her a “poor wretch” it is apparent that Fanny Parks sees herself as superior to the Indian woman.
Just as Fanny Parks wrote with a cultural English bias about the Sati in her diary entry, many of other writers, missionaries, and journalists did as well[7]. When the English back home are reading a bias source and are not factoring in the possible bias, they themselves are going to be likely to have the same bias towards the Indian culture. Trained by English culture, many English women saw themselves superior to other cultures, and this shows in Fanny Park’s diary entry[8].
Another reason Fanny Parks like most English women would view Indian Sati ritual to be disturbing is because they have family, friends, and fellow Englishmen back in England pressuring them to go against it or make Sati practices illegal. Many English had mixed feelings about the issue, but overall found it troubling to hear. The English looked down on the Hindu society, because they could not understand how they could allow their people to be killed in such a brutal manner[9].
When the English first traveled to India and started establishing trading posts in the 1500’s is when English journalists started writing about the Sati ritual and its religious purpose. This was a shocking subject for the English citizens to read about, though many praised the devotion of the wives. Although, later on when the East Indian Company started take more control of India during the 17th century stronger political and moral debates arose about permitting the Sati ritual. In the beginning, in order to maintain their power British rule deemed it legal to please Hindu religious groups; though, eventually in 1813 British rule judged the ritual legal only if the wife took part in the tradition voluntarily. This decision occurred because strong evangelical groups back in England continuously fought for the rights of the Indian widowed wives. “This legislation triggered intense debate in India and Britain both for and against sati. British missionaries as well as Indian advocates and opponents of sati sought sanction for their opposing positions in Hindu scriptural text”[10].
Overall, though all the debate over the legalization of the ritual it is likely an English woman would sympathize with the victimized widow and favor against the Sati practice. Additionally, with all the pressure from British back home, her husband employed at the East Indian Company, and British officials surrounding her it is understandable that Fanny Parks would view the ritual as unjust and want it to be outlawed.
Another possible reason an English woman might view the Sati ritual as disturbing is because English women are more represented and respected in their English culture in comparison to Indian women in Indian culture . Bring from England women are able to have important positions in the work force, become educated, and run the household. Overall, in English culture women can achieve more and have more of a voice in the home[11].
Though, English women did still not have equal rights and men were still the dominate finical providers of the family at the time, English women had more power and opportunity in their culture. In English culture if a woman put her mind to it she could support herself by creating an established profession for herself such as a nurse, teacher, doctor, journalist, poet, or secretary[12]. When women start supporting themselves, they become a supporting member of society and as result are respected and independent. Additionally many English women had goals and a mission, especially those traveling. Still most traveled to join their husbands they were still accompanied by “other groups of women who were driven by a sense of personal mission. Some, like the missionaries to the East went because they were sure God was calling them; some, more interested in the bodies than the souls of the Queen-Empress’s subjects, went as nurses; some were simply looking for the sheer excitement of discovering new people and places”[13].
Indian women on the other hand are not usually finically independent. These women must find a good husband to take care of them in order to be supported. This is also another reason why Hindu religion encourages the Sati ritual, because after a wife is widowed she has no finical support and is seen a burden to her family[14]. Fanny Park’s mentions an Indian widow commenting, “the women of my husband’s family have all been suttees, why should I bring disgrace upon them? I shall go to heaven, and afterwards re-appear on earth, and be married to a very rich man,” when asked ‘what good will being burned alive do you?”[15]. This quote demonstrate how much an Indian women’s life revolves around finding a good finically supportive husband, as if it was the most valuable reward to her.
This demonstrates just how different each type of the women’s role in the culture really was. Indian women mostly depended on a man’s finical support and English women are able to become finical supporters themselves. Overall when one has finical independence they feel and become a more respected and contributing member of their society because they play a bigger role.
Overall, Fanny Parks has a clear bias against the Sati Indian ritual in diary entry on November 7, 1828. One factor that could be contributing to the bias is her cultural English heritage. Additionally, Fanny Parks was surrounded in India with people who were against the Sati and had much influence from English back home against the Sati. Lastly, Fanny as English woman had more dominance within her culture in comparison to Indian women in theirs, which could lead to her viewing the ritual are cruel. Historically, these possible contributors help explain why Fanny Parks’ bias exists, in order to help understand English women’s’ mindsets at the time.
Works Cited
Parks, Fanny. “Sati: Diary, Fanny Parks.” Women in World History. Roy Rosenzweig Center for History
and New Media. 1975. Web. 07 April 2014.
<http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/d/102/wwh.html >.
Ramusack, Barbara. Sati. Women in World History. Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New
Media. Web. 08 April 2014. <http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/modules/lesson5/lesson5.php?c=biblio&s=0>.
"WOMEN OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE." THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Best of the British, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
<http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/kenanderson/histempsequel/page7.html>.
Parks, Fanny. “Sati: Diary, Fanny Parks.” Women in World History. Roy Rosenzweig Center for History
and New Media. 1975. Web. 07 April 2014.
<http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/d/102/wwh.html >.
Ramusack, Barbara. Sati. Women in World History. Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New
Media. Web. 08 April 2014. <http://chnm.gmu.edu/wwh/modules/lesson5/lesson5.php?c=biblio&s=0>.
"WOMEN OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE." THE BRITISH EMPIRE. Best of the British, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2014.
<http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/kenanderson/histempsequel/page7.html>.
The Primary Source
Fanny Parks is an English woman who moved to Calcutta, India in November of 1822. She moved to India because her husband was a writer for the East Indian Company during the time the British Empire was pushing for their control over India. During this time period few English women were living in India. The couple stayed in India for some time until 1845 when they moved back to England. While in India, Fanny Parks kept a diary to for her mother home in England which included Indian traditions, religion, and culture, as well as Fanny’s daily life. In this entry of her diary on November 7, 1828 she discusses a ritual of the Sati. In this ritual, Hindu widowed wives perform self-sacrifice and are burned alive to be with their husbands. This practice is done to show devotion and respect to the deceased husband.
Fanny Parks is an English woman who moved to Calcutta, India in November of 1822. She moved to India because her husband was a writer for the East Indian Company during the time the British Empire was pushing for their control over India. During this time period few English women were living in India. The couple stayed in India for some time until 1845 when they moved back to England. While in India, Fanny Parks kept a diary to for her mother home in England which included Indian traditions, religion, and culture, as well as Fanny’s daily life. In this entry of her diary on November 7, 1828 she discusses a ritual of the Sati. In this ritual, Hindu widowed wives perform self-sacrifice and are burned alive to be with their husbands. This practice is done to show devotion and respect to the deceased husband.
THE SUTTEE.
A rich buniya [merchant], a corn chandler, whose house was near the gate of our grounds, departed this life; he was an Hindoo. On the 7th of November, the natives in the bazar were making a great noise with their tom-toms, drums, and other discordant musical instruments, rejoicing that his widow had determined to perform suttee, i. e. to burn on his funeral-pile. The magistrate sent for the woman, used every argument to dissuade her, and offered her money. Her only answer was, dashing her head on the floor, and saying, “If you will not let me burn with my husband, I will hang myself in your court of justice.” The shastrus [Hindu scriptures] say, “The prayers and imprecations of a suttee are never uttered in vain; the great gods themselves cannot listen to them unmoved.” If a widow touch either food or water from the time her husband expires until she ascend the pile, she cannot, by Hindoo law, be burned with the body; therefore the magistrate kept the corpse forty-eight hours, in the hope that hunger would compel the woman to eat. Guards were set over her, but she never touched any thing. My husband accompanied the magistrate to see the suttee : about 5000 people were collected together on the banks of the Ganges : the pile was then built, and the putrid body placed upon it; the magistrate stationed guards to prevent the people from approaching it. After having bathed in the river, the widow lighted a brand, walked round the pile, set it on fire, and then mounted cheerfully: the flame caught and blazed up instantly; she sat down, placing the head of the corpse on her lap, and repeated several times the usual form, “Ram, Ram, suttee; Ram, Ram, suttee;” i. e. “God, God, I am chaste.” As the wind drove the fierce fire upon her, she shook her arms and limbs as if in agony; at length she started up and approached the side to escape. An Hindoo, one of the police who had been placed near the pile to see she had fair play, and should not be burned by force, raised his sword to strike her, and the poor wretch shrank back into the flames. The magistrate seized and committed him to prison. The woman again approached the side of the blazing pile, sprang fairly out, and ran into the Ganges, which was within a few yards. When the crowd and the brothers of the dead man saw this, they called out, “Cut her down, knock her on the head with a bamboo; tie her hands and feet; and throw her in again;” and rushed down to execute their murderous intentions, when the gentlemen and the police drove them back. |
The woman drank some water, and having extinguished the fire on her red garment, said she would mount the pile again and be burned. The magistrate placed his hand on her shoulder (which rendered her impure), and said, “By your own law, having once quitted the pile you cannot ascend again; I forbid it. You are now an outcast from the Hindoos, but I will take charge of you, the Company will protect you, and you shall never want food or clothing.” He then sent her, in a palanquin, under a guard, to the hospital. The crowd made way, shrinking from her with signs of horror, but returned peaceably to their homes; the Hindoos annoyed at her escape, and the Mussulmans saying, “It was better that she should escape, but it was a pity we should have lost the tamasha (amusement) of seeing her burnt to death.” Had not the magistrate and the English gentlemen been present, the Hindoos would have cut her down when she attempted to quit the fire; or had she leapt out, would have thrown her in again, and have said, “She performed suttee of her own accord, how could we make her? it was the will of God.” As a specimen of their religion the woman said, “I have transmigrated six times, and have been burned six times with six different husbands; if I do not burn the seventh time, it will prove unlucky for me!” “What good will burning do you?” asked a bystander. She replied, “The women of my husband’s family have all been suttees, why should I bring disgrace upon them? I shall go to heaven, and afterwards re-appear on earth, and be married to a very rich man.” She was about twenty or twenty-five years of age, and possessed of some property, for the sake of which her relatives wished to put her out of the world. If every suttee were conducted in this way, very few would take place in India. The woman was not much burned, with the exception of some parts on her arms and legs. Had she performed suttee, they would have raised a little cenotaph, or a mound of earth by the side of the river, and every Hindoo who passed the place returning from bathing would have made salam to it; a high honour to the family. |
This is an engraving of the sati ritual. A widowed Indian woman is on top of husband's dead body and funeral pile and they are both being burned. This copper engraving pictures a crowd witnessing the event.
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This video helps provide a greater idea of what the sati tradition was and how it became a part of their culture.
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These images are pages in a child's book written by an English woman during the time the East Indian Company ruled over India. They demonstrate the superiority British felt they had over the world and other cultures.
This video tells the beginning of the East Indian Company and its growth overtime. It demonstrates how their power grew to eventually grew to rule India.