Question

What was the practice of Sati?
A) Killing of girl children at birth
B) Enforced widowhood for life
C) Modern education to women
D) Burning of the widow

Answer 1

Hint: During the colonial period, sati was revived in large numbers, particularly in the colonial Bengal Presidency. Three factors may have contributed to the revival: sati was thought to be supported by Hindu scriptures; sati was encouraged by unscrupulous neighbours as a means of annexing property from a widow who had the right to inherit her dead husband's property under Hindu law, and sati assisted in the elimination of the inheritor.

Complete answer:
Sati is a practice in which widows are burned alive on their husband's funeral pyre, either voluntarily or forcibly. It was thought to be the mark of a faithful wife who wished to accompany her husband to the hereafter. It implied that women were only valuable in relation to males. This exemplified women's lack of individual status in India.

India's Governor-General In 1829, Lord William Bentinck passed the Bengal Sati Regulation, which made the voluntary and involuntary burning or burying alive of Hindu widows punishable by criminal courts. The ban, which was imposed across the country, is credited with putting an end to the Sati ritual in India. It was the British's first major social reform legislation in India. British Christian missionaries like William Carey and Hindu reformers like Ram Mohan Roy were among the most notable proponents to eradicate the practice of sati.

Therefore the correct answer is option ‘B’.

Note: Conservative Hindus led by Radhakanta Deb and the Dharma Sabha opposed the ban, which they considered as an intrusion into Hindu religious issues and a violation of George III's Statute 37. This statute guaranteed Hindus that their faith would not be interfered with in any way.