| "What is most astonishing...is not that a Rajput widow has performed the rite of sati, for in doing so she simply demonstrates her assent to the set of principles and beliefs that make one a Rajput in the traditional sense. Nor is it surprising that a handful of English-educated exponents of ‘social progress’ would take upon themselves the moral burden of "uplifting the ignorant masses", i.e. to make others see things their way. Rather, it is the unanimous barrage of rabidly anti-sati sentiment filling the English language press and the complete absence of dialogue or discussion between the two sides that shocks and disappoints not only the foreign scholar but also, presumably, anyone else sharing an interest in the survival of democratic as well as traditional institutions in twentieth-century India." |
Of late there has been a commotion in the Indian press concerning an incident of sati, or ritual self-immolation, which occurred recently in a remote village in Rajasthan. In a chilling act of courage reminiscent of Rajasthan’s days of glory, a teen-aged bride is reported to have coolly mounted her deceased husband’s funeral pyre and consented to be immolated together with her spouse before the gaze of a few hundred onlookers. The controversy ignited by this young Rajput heroine is still burning, and is unlikely to be soon forgotten.
Except for a small press article that was released nationally, the whole incident might have escaped the attention of the reading public outside of Rajasthan. But once it became known that a Sati Mata shrine was to be erected in honor of Roop Kanwar, feminists across the country (or, at least, ‘hundreds’ of them in certain cities) sent a flurry of irate letters to press editors and politicians demanding that official action be taken so that “no public function be allowed to be held that would glorify the ghastly practice of sati.”
The English language press was quick to seize onto a good story, and joined hands with outraged feminists in a campaign to denounce sati practice and to ‘throw the book’ at anyone associated, however innocently, with the incident of Roop Kanwar’s sati. Next it was the politicians who were seen climbing on board to be the first and loudest to express their moral outrage. Finally it fell upon the courts and local police to bring their sticks down upon participating sympathizers and to rigorously prevent any future recurrence.
What this observer finds most astonishing is not that a Rajput widow has performed the rite of sati, for in doing so she simply demonstrates her assent to the set of principles and beliefs that make one a Rajput in the traditional sense. Nor is it surprising that a handful of English-educated exponents of ‘social progress’ would take upon themselves the moral burden of ‘uplifting the ignorant masses’, i.e. to make others see things their way. Rather, it is the unanimous barrage of rabidly anti-sati sentiment filling the English language press and the complete absence of any dialogue or discussion between the two sides that shocks and disappoints not only the foreign scholar but also, presumably, anyone else sharing an interest in the survival of democratic as well as traditional institutions in twentieth-century India.
Judging by the outcry in the English papers, one might suppose that Indian society as a whole deplores sati. The facts, however, indicate just the opposite. Against the ‘hundreds’ who so vehemently complained, a reported two to four hundred thousand men, women and children quietly ‘voted with their feet’ by attending a Vedic ceremony in Deorala village on the thirteenth day after the rite of immolation. And this occurred, we are told, despite a Government order to prevent "outsiders" from attending.
In this instance, it seems that the Government itself was the principal "outsider". Although vehicular traffic was stopped fourteen kilometers from the village, this did not deter the pilgrims, including many old and infirm people, who simply left their means of transport and walked the remaining distance. Oddly, the same papers chose to describe these hundreds of thousands of the devout as being merely "curious".
Certainly, when lakhs of traditional villagers actually brave the elements, not to mention official hostility, to come on foot from afar on such short notice to attend a ceremony honoring a sati, then there must be crores more who were unable to attend but who remain altogether sympathetic in principle. And yet, scarcely a single voice has been heard to articulate the view of the overwhelming majority who not only merely approve of, but deeply respect and admire, the faith and courage embodied in an act that so horrifies adherents of the modern mentality.
Few people, and certainly not this writer, would dare to suggest that the few cases of involuntary sati that are said to have occurred in the past are in any way laudable. Rather, these are cases of homicide mitigated by considerations of belief and customs. Indian statutory law, however, appears to be dead set against sati in principle. Influenced by foreign-biased education, generations of India’s elite have learned to espouse foreign values with a sense of self-righteousness that is seldom found among the foreigners themselves. By itself, it has done little harm, but these same self-appointed moral policemen, beginning with Raja Rammohan Roy and others like him some 160 years ago, have gone on to impose their newly-adopted values, through Government and public education, upon the rest of their countrymen.
The less privileged masses follow meekly, trusting implicitly in the in the ultimate value of a modern education, having for so long been assured of its unquestionable superiority. The result is a veritable tyranny of the elect, all in the name of ‘progress’, or whatever happens to be the current fashion.
Evidently, in the course of acquiring a ‘modern’ education, untold numbers of young people from grade school onwards are unwittingly being sold a readymade foreign set of anti-traditional values, all neatly packaged for Indian soil with such high-sounding labels as ‘modern’ and ‘progressive’. Nobody, it seems, ever questions the meaning of these concepts, which have today become the new sacred cows of aspiring middle-class India.
Nor, for that matter, does anyone appear to consider deeply what the long-term impact will be of widespread modem education upon the social fibre of India’s rural and urban masses. Rising material expectations, growing dissatisfaction with traditional modes of thought, and increasing reliance upon material solutions to problems ancient and modern have been the fruit, in social terms, of the highly-touted ‘modern education’.
Historically, the first modern schools in India, and still the standard for others, were those funded and directed by foreign missionaries, whose avowed intention was to undermine pagan creeds through proving the falsity and inferiority of traditional education and values. No effort or expense was spared to ensure that the greatest prestige and social advantage would accrue to a ‘progressive education’. Even those who did not explicitly convert to the new religion still acquired the conceit that they had emerged into the light of day and that it was now their duty to uplift the ignorant country folk to their sublime level. A full century and a half later, the modern-educated elite of India is still operating under the same worn-out assumptions. The blind still follow the blind, even when furnished with titles and university diplomas.
Even today, it is still the foreign-inspired urban elements who presume to enlighten and lead the masses of traditional village India. Employing the same catch-phrases and ‘ism’s as have served to plunge the rest of the world into conflict and moral depravity, they declare that they would put an end to such “ghastly practices” as sati. And yet, a careful look at India’s cities, their homes and the very hotbeds of the modern mentality, is enough to undermine and expose their whole presumption. For where, but from the cities, does all the turmoil and terrorism in modern India originate? Is not the modern urban mentality itself the source of our social diseases?
For example, the current decade has witnessed the birth on a broad scale of modern-style bride-burning in a fashion that is far more ghastly than the traditional rite of self-immolation that is an option for devout and heroic bereaved widows. Hapless modern urban brides, subjected first to emotional abuse and humiliation, finally meet with a horrible and degrading end by being doused in kerosene and set ablaze by greed-intoxicated in-laws, who report the crime as a “cooking accident”. Nobody knows for certain how many women in the flower of youth annually suffer this grisly end, but it is clearly an urban phenomenon, most rampant in the national capital itself, the very place that is looked toward as the model for the rest of the country.
Traditional sati, as is well-known in Rajasthan and elsewhere, is a matter of principle, something that material pragmatists will never comprehend or believe. Bharat Mata is great, precisely because her children are free to live and to die according to the principles that govern their lives. This freedom is in danger of extinction in the face of powerful and ruthlessly intolerant forces masquerading behind an array of good intentions. The time comes for everybody to be brought to account.