* Title: Sati- The Myth of Widow Burning in British India
* Author: Satish Jhunjhunwala, Ananda Mukherji
*ISBN: 8182060915, 978-8182060913
* Publisher: Towards Freedom
* Publication: 14 June 2025
* Page count: 329
* Format: Paperback
* Description: British colonial history of India makes the world believe that barbarian Hindus immolated widows on the funeral pyre of their husbands and the colonial government in India, aided by Ram Mohan Roy abolished this cruel rite of Suttee in 1829. A false propaganda conceived and sustained by the British continuously for 15 years since 1815 established this myth which still endures. This book argues that it was a false narrative created to justify the colonial rule as a humanitarian mission, rather than administrative necessity. Independent India quietly ignored the myth, but four decades after its independence an internal controversy in 1987 resulted in re-enactment of the archaic “Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829” with an additional clause outlawing “Glorification of Sati”. This created waves of discontent in India as it legally prohibited worship of “Sati Matas”, a centuries-old peaceful religious cult of Rajasthan not even remotely connected with widow burning. The controversy is sub-judice and the stalemate continues. This book traces the history of this long journey, explains that Sati and Suttee are conceptually poles apart, questions the credibility of the British narrative, and argues that it is deliberately overblown myth, not history.
* Author: Satish Jhunjhunwala, Ananda Mukherji
*ISBN: 8182060915, 978-8182060913
* Publisher: Towards Freedom
* Publication: 14 June 2025
* Page count: 329
* Format: Paperback
* Description: British colonial history of India makes the world believe that barbarian Hindus immolated widows on the funeral pyre of their husbands and the colonial government in India, aided by Ram Mohan Roy abolished this cruel rite of Suttee in 1829. A false propaganda conceived and sustained by the British continuously for 15 years since 1815 established this myth which still endures. This book argues that it was a false narrative created to justify the colonial rule as a humanitarian mission, rather than administrative necessity. Independent India quietly ignored the myth, but four decades after its independence an internal controversy in 1987 resulted in re-enactment of the archaic “Bengal Sati Regulation, 1829” with an additional clause outlawing “Glorification of Sati”. This created waves of discontent in India as it legally prohibited worship of “Sati Matas”, a centuries-old peaceful religious cult of Rajasthan not even remotely connected with widow burning. The controversy is sub-judice and the stalemate continues. This book traces the history of this long journey, explains that Sati and Suttee are conceptually poles apart, questions the credibility of the British narrative, and argues that it is deliberately overblown myth, not history.
*Language: English
*Link: https://www.amazon.in/dp/8182060915/?...