Rjrasva

Widow status

Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official, Volume 1 by Sir William Henry Sleeman Published: 1844

I must do the family the justice to say, that they all exerted themselves to dissuade the widow from her purpose; and had she lived, she would assuredly have been cherished and honoured as the first female member of the whole house. There is no people in the world among whom parents are more loved, honoured, and obeyed, than among the Hindoos; and the grandmother is always more honoured than the mother. No queen upon her throne could be more…

Voluntary immolation

Before the ban in 1829, the Brit gov’t commissioned “The Report on Hindu Widows and Voluntary Immolation”

Even in 1600’s, Bernier records it but he also records that most were voluntary

Ancient observations

we have accounts all the way from ancient Greeks to medieval French & Italian travelers.

Opposition

Many colonial officials wrote back opposing it & those who argued for a ban often cited suicide being a sin as per Xtianity. Check Meenakshi Jain’s book on Sati which rehashes the whole debate.