New Twitter outrage due to Rohatgi's remark.
Actress Payal Rohatgi who is known for her strong conservative leanings on social issues and controversial takes on various matters have started a huge Twitter outrage. She has claimed that Sati tradition which is long banned wasn't regressive and it was the choice of the woman concerned. Rohatgi accused Ram Mohan Roy of being a British chamcha (lackey) who was used to defame Hindus.
Rohatgi to prove her point later tweeted several links and said that she is not trying to glorify Sati, but is looking to present the truth. However, very few people were convinced by Rohatgi's outrageous claim in somehow finding virtue in the practice of women jumping into the pyre of their husbands. Also Raja Ram Mohan Roy, who is one of the leading lights of Benga's Renaissance in the 19th Century didn't go down well with many Twitter users.
Also Read: Sati may have existed among megalithic people
However, some like True Indology did came out in support of her citing historical text, which has sparked a mini-debate on Twitter regarding the impact and contribution of Raja Ram Mohan Roy in cleansing Hindu society of different ills.
No he was a chamcha to Britishers who used him to defame the Sati tradition. Sati tradition was not compulsory but was introduced to prevent the prostitution of Hindu wives by the hands of Mughal invaders. It was the woman’s choice. #FeministsofIndia Sati was not regressive https://t.co/sALLK2lALF
— PAYAL ROHATGI & Team -BHAKTS of BHAGWAN RAM (@Payal_Rohatgi) May 25, 2019
Actress Quote Tweeted about Ram Mohan saying, " No he was a chamcha to Britishers who used him to defame the Sati tradition. Sati tradition was not compulsory but was introduced to prevent the prostitution of Hindu wives by the hands of Mughal invaders. It was the woman’s choice. #FeministsofIndia Sati was not regressive"
She also said,
Truth Behind Sati Pratha in India https://t.co/x1vn5l6Xcy via @YouTube #Jauhar was an incident related to Padmavati during Mughal Khiljis invasion. Later society with d help of traitors like Raja Ram who Britishers used 2 divide society made Sati into an evil forceful practice
— PAYAL ROHATGI & Team -BHAKTS of BHAGWAN RAM (@Payal_Rohatgi) May 26, 2019
The practice of a wife dying with the husband has a long and varied history in multiple civilisations across history. While the first historical record of the practice of what we have for the past 150 years or so referred to as sati was from Greek historians who accompanied the invasion of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE, instances are known from a number of Central Asian cultures as well from the 8th and 9th centuries BCE.
In some parts of the world, it was done in the form of double burials. In other parts, such as India and its sphere of influence like Southeast Asia, it was in the form of multi-person cremations.
1. Twitter slams Payal Rohatgi
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Many Twitter users took strong exception to Rohatgi's remarks.
What a time to be alive in India - one former Bigg Boss contestant and one anonymous Twitter account are trying to demolish Raja Ram Mohun Roy, leading light of the Bengal Renaissance, and in turn the Brahmo Samaj, ideological home of the Tagores. Peak intellect on Twitter.
— HindolSengupta (@HindolSengupta) May 27, 2019
@Payal_Rohatgi @twilightfairy
— DEBKANCHAN MITRA (@DEBKANCHAN) May 27, 2019
The Commission of Sati prevention Act 1987 bars the glorification of Sati with a punishment upto 7 years of imprisonment.
National commission for women should take suo motto action and file a legal complaint against this degenerate.payalRohatgi
This is where are country is heading to.. @PritishNandy, we may be the 1st country which insults n abuses our history n historians.
— RiA (@RiaRevealed) May 27, 2019
This is like condemning what we've learnt from generations n our forefathers.
Shame on us ungrateful ppl who can't save our history from such abuse.
Holy smokes! Where did this one come from? Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the great reformist, is now a “chamcha” of the British! Wonderful. Here come new India’s historians. https://t.co/ToBeE68Hme
— Pritish Nandy (@PritishNandy) May 26, 2019
2. 'True Indology' supports Payal's claim
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Here's what popular Twitter handle True Indology said:
Raja Ram Mohan Roy's mother- "My son has given up his Hindu identity. He is an apostate and infidel. I want to disinherit him"
— TrueIndology (@TrueIndologyliv) May 27, 2019
All those people who has been abusing me since yesterday must start abusing Raja Rammohan Roy's mother immediately. Come on. pic.twitter.com/OfR5Dz0iDB
A publicly allegiance to Christianity would have meant that Roy would have lost his hereditary property rights. He would have been reduced to null.
— TrueIndology (@TrueIndologyliv) May 28, 2019
According to Roy's friend Tucker, "Roy used his status as a Brahman to help promote his writings on Christianity" pic.twitter.com/sNu8lYxCq1
Although Roy was a reformer, he continued to follow caste rules. He never dined publicly with Europeans.
— TrueIndology (@TrueIndologyliv) May 28, 2019
According to Zastoupil,it was his fear of breaking caste. Roy was a Brahman and a public conversion would have made him an outcast in the society and decimated his influence pic.twitter.com/Jf7lmNGpZC
A 'balanced' take on Roy:
Do read this MAGNIFICENT treatise on Ram Mohun Roy (pp 47-74), very balanced and objective - no wonder it is cited & recommended by RC Majumdar.
— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) May 28, 2019
Doubtless, RMR was a great reformer, but as the treatise concludes, a troubled, eclectic, and estranged being. https://t.co/7AbOYGRwiw pic.twitter.com/z4OcTMXZTt
3. Recorded history of Sati
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There have been recorded instances of sati across the Indian subcontinent, from the plains of Punjab and Rajasthan to Bengal, the central Indian kingdoms and the Tamil Cholas.
In a number of places, sati or similar practices like Rajasthan's jauhar, were responses to invasions. Women would court death voluntarily rather than be captured by the invading armies. However, this choice of not being captured was more pronounced in Rajasthan when the invading armies were Muslim.
The practice of sati was largely voluntary as records and articles from the early colonial era suggest, but there were definitely instances where the woman was forced. But there seem to be very little doubts in these early colonial records that sati was not a widespread practice.
