The Banned Rite of the Twice-Born
Suttee: By Edward Thompson. (Allen and Unwin. 7s. 6d.) " HINDUISM," writes Mr. Thompson, " was from the first consistent and increasingly and inexorably diligent in one aim, that of surroundivig the male creature with every comfort and dignity." Later he writes of " the gross and cruel glorification of man," of which Suttee is the most awful example. Now the burning alive of widows is one of the most terrible things in history, but the author is only stating a half-truth when he indicts the whole of Hinduism for this barbarity. Hinduism has, in theory, exalted the woman above the man—the Shakti or female principle of nature is very generally worshipped above the gods—although in practice we agree the Brahmins have permitted or condoned practices that even savages would abhor. Yet we must not allow ourselves to believe that .the family life of a high- caste Hindu is generally anything but happy. The " surplus women " of the West are often far unhappier than their sisters in India, for no woman there is denied her right to have a husband and a child.
Suttee, with its high test of courage, its immense devotion to an ideal of wifely duty which, however outmoded in our emancipated age, still holds its sway over Asia, was not derogatory to woman but rather a proof of her strength. Originally it was a custom of the princely castes : a nation whcse queens could face such a death unflinchingly cannot be said to be degenerate. Mr. Thompson hardly does justice to this point, but it is the only fault we can find in a very able and broad-minded study of a custom which it is singularly difficult for Western people to understand. He does full justice to the work of that great reformer, Ram Mohan Roy, who was the first Indian to strengthen the hand of our officials, at a time when they were hesitating—and, we must admit, very understandably hesitating—to run counter to religious prejudices. It was only in 1829 that suttee was abolished by law throughout British India. Even then eight hundred high-caste Indians carried a petition to the Privy Council protesting against their women not being allowed to burn themselves alive.
If the British left India, would the practice revive ? Probably it would, in certain isolated instances at any rate,
for as lately as 1913, when the present writer was in Allahabad, an appeal came before the High Court there arising out of a case of suttee. The wife of Rammal, a Brahmin of Jarowli; had insisted on burning herself alive. Her relations tried to dissuade her, but she was not to be influenced. When her husband was taken on his bier to the burning ghat she insisted on following him and paying the supreme sacrifice. She walked round the pyre seven times in orthodox fashion, stripped herself of all her ornaments, demanded some melted butter which she poured over herself after mounting the catafalque. Lying down beside her husband, she demanded fire to be put under their two bodies. The spectators refused (according to their story), telling her that if there were any virtue in her she could produce the fire for herself, whereon she whispered into the ear of the corpse and, raising her arms aloft, prayed to God ; in a few moments flames were seen to lick round the funeral pyre. - Between fifteen hundred and two thousand spectators attended this ghastly ceremony of only fifteen years ago. The appeal judge, delivering a lengthy judgment, did not believe the fire had sprung unbidden : he concurred with the trial judge that human hands had carried a match, and convicted five persons to various terms of imprisonment. " The feelings and beliefs which prompt a suttee still exist," he said, " and but little encouragement is needed to revive the rite."
In our 'opinion (and it is also ,that of ,Mr. Thompson) the influence of Mr. Gandhi and many another enlightened Hindu has been very strong against the practice ; and although customs that have grown up through the centuries take more than a generation to eradicate, it is obvious that no Indian of the present day would tolerate such an atrocious holocaust as the burning of the three hundred concubines and ten wives of Raja Suchet Singh at his obsequies. Such a thing would be unthinkable : individual cases of suttee might still occur, however, in.isolated districts if the British were to withdraw. But we "should be Slott sighted indeed if we failed- to see hovi the higher castes' -India are emancipating themselves, and, while retaining what is best in their ancient religion, are discarding the superstitions and cruelties of an earlier time.
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