History Project

Reforms of
Lord William Bentinck
Submitted By: Under the Guidelines Of:
Shavy Dr VijayLaxmi
6th semester
B.A.LLB(Hons)

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 CONTENT TABLE

S.No Particulars

1 Cover Page

2 Contents

3 Acknowledgment

4 Introduction

5 About Lord William Bentinck

6 Financial Reforms

7 Administrative Reforms

8 Judicial Reforms

9 Educational Reforms

10 Sati

11 The Thugs

12 Bibliography
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I am using this opportunity to express my gratitude to
everyone who supported me throughout the course of this
project. I am thankful for their aspiring guidance,
invaluably constructive criticism and friendly advice during
the project work. I am sincerely grateful to them for sharing
their truthful and illuminating views on a number of issues
related to the project.
I express my warm thanks to DR VIJAYLAXMI for her
support and guidance at UILS, CHANDIGARH.
I would also like to thank all the people who provided me
with the facilities being required and conductive conditions
for my project.
 
Thank you
 INTRODUCTION
This project is on the reforms under Lord William Bentinck. Lord William Bentinck
assumed the office of the Governor- General in 1828. Born in 1774 he commenced his
career as a soldier and later at the young age of twenty two he became a Member of
Parliament. He was appointed the Governor of Madras in 1803. He supported Sir Thomas
Munroe on revenue administration. The Vellore Mutiny of 1806 had resulted in Bentinck’s
recall. However, his appointment However, his appointment again to the higher office as
Governor-General shows his real greatness. As Governor-General, Bentinck had initiated an
era of progress and reforms. He was undoubtedly the first Governor- General of British
India who acted on the dictum that “the welfare of the subject peoples was a main, perhaps
the primary, duty of the British in India”. Under the Charter Act of 1833 he introduced
many reforms for the betterment of the East India Company. His reforms proved to be the
most significant one, as it changed the whole economical and social scenario of the Bengal
and other provinces of East India Company. Apart from these changes his reforms also
helped the people to change their perspective towards women.
 ABOUT LORD WILLIAM BENTINCK
Lord William Bentinck, in full William H e
nryCavendish-Bentinck,(bor
nSeptember14,1774,Bulstro
d e , Buckinghamshire, England—died June
17, 1839, Paris, France), British governor-
general of Bengal (1828–33) and of India
(1833–35). An aristocrat who sympathised
with many of the liberal ideas of his day, he
made important administrative reforms in
Indian government and society. He
reformed the finances, opened up judicial
posts to Indians, and suppressed such
practices as suttee, or widow burning, and
thuggee, or ritual murder by robber gangs.
The innovations effected in his years of
office were milestones in creating a much
more interventionist style of government
than preceding ones, a style that involved
the westernisation of Indian society and
culture.

EARLY CAREER:-
The second son of the 3rd duke of Portland, Bentinck at age 17 received a commission as
ensign in the Coldstream Guards, and by 1794 he had become a lieutenant colonel. Born to
wealth and rank, he was a promising, if not outstanding, young officer. Nevertheless, his
appointment as governor of Madras (now Chennai) in 1803, at the early age of 29, caused
surprise.
Although he performed his duties satisfactorily enough, his administration was clouded by
his disagreements with his council and was abruptly terminated by the mutiny at Vellore.
An unwise order by the commander in chief of the Madras army had forbidden the native
troops to wear their traditional beards and turbans; Bentinck, even more unwisely, would
not allow the order to be rescinded. The consequence was a serious mutiny in July 1806,
accompanied by attacks on officers and British troops. The outbreak was suppressed with
heavy loss of life, and the ill-considered order was finally withdrawn. Bentinck was held
responsible and was recalled from his post in 1807. Believing he had been treated unjustly,
he pressed for the next 20 years for a chance to vindicate his name by service in India.

TOUR IN SICILY:-
With the Napoleonic Wars ongoing, he was next assigned to Spain, where he commanded a
brigade at Corunna, after which he was appointed commander of the British troops in Sicily.
Italy was then in the hands of Napoleon, but in Sicily the Bourbon monarchs of Naples still
reigned under the protection of the British fleet. Bentinck’s orders were to raise a Sicilian
army of 10,000 men to supplement his 5,000 British soldiers and land on the east coast of
Spain with his combined forces to assist in the campaign against Napoleon. Had Bentinck
been no more than a soldier, his course would have been clear. But he was a man of
imagination, a Whig (a liberal) by family tradition, and a radical in the eyes of his
contemporaries. Therefore, besides merely raising a Sicilian army, he engineered the
deposition of the Bourbon king—in favour of the heir apparent—as well as the adoption of a
liberal Sicilian constitution with a legislative body modeled on the British Parliament.
Further, he planned to invade Italy and rally the people not only to expel Napoleon but to set
up a constitutional monarchy. The British government would never have supported such a
plan; in fact, it intended eventually to restore Austrian rule in Italy. The Italian landing did
not take place at that time, however, and Bentinck delayed his landing in Spain beyond the
date when he was most needed. When he finally did land in Italy, at Genoa in 1814, his
liberal proclamations again embarrassed his government, and he was recalled to England in
1815. On his return he was elected to the House of Commons.

GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF INDIA:-
He refused reappointment to the governorship of Madras in 1819, waiting to attain his real
ambition—the appointment as governor-general of Bengal, which came in 1827. Bentinck’s
immediate instructions were to rescue India from its financial difficulties; at this time the
government in India operated on an annual deficit of about £1.5 million. Bentinck soon
succeeded in turning the deficit into a surplus of about the same amount. The result of his
efforts was the renewal of the East India Company’s government by the Charter Act of
1833, whereby Bentinck became the first governor-general of India. He next turned to
personnel reforms, which included making more administrative and judicial positions
available to Indians and improving the salaries and status of Indian judges. Bentinck also
made English, instead of Persian, the language of the higher courts and of higher education
and arranged for financial aid to colleges, which were to be adapted to the Western models.
Bentinck showed great courage and humanity by his decision to abolish suttee (sati), the
Hindu custom of burning widows alive with the corpses of their husbands. Previous
governors-general had shrunk from prohibiting the custom as an interference in religion and
one particularly likely to upset the Indian army, but Bentinck cut through these hesitations
without facing much open opposition. He was also responsible for the measures taken to
suppress the murder of unwanted children, human sacrifice, and the thags—bands of
robbers, bound together by oaths and ritual, who murdered unsuspecting travellers in the
name of the goddess Kālī. Flogging in the Indian army was also abolished, long before it
ended in the British army.

LEGACY:-
Bentinck left India in March 1835 and returned to England, where he refused a peerage and
was again elected to the House of Commons. He died in Paris in 1839. It has been argued
that the reforms he initiated and those that followed in the next 20 years—which accelerated
the westernisation of India—were partly responsible for the Indian army’s Mutiny of 1857.
Bentinck was not an original thinker; his philosophical masters were the utilitarians Jeremy
Bentham and James Mill; his practical instructor, especially in the field of education, was
the historian Thomas Babington Macaulay, among others. He borrowed useful elements
from the creed of his liberal Whig ancestors and of Bentham and combined them in policies
that were sensible, practical, and humanitarian. Toward the end of his career, he had lost the
impetuosity that had characterised his earlier years in Sicily and the tactlessness that had
appeared when he first held office in Madras. Though certainly not the most brilliant of the
governors-general, in solid achievements and in utilising the resources available to him, he
ranks among the most successful.

REFORMS UNDER WILLIAM BENTINCK:

FINANCIAL REFORMS:-
Shortly after assuming the charge of administration, Lord William Benitnck appointed two
committee for enquiring into civil and military expenditures of the government and
recommend measures for their reduction. The committees held a comprehensive enquiry
into the matter, and under their recommendations Bentinck adopted measures to abolish
many sinecure jobs and reduce the salaries and allowances of several categories of civil
servants.
In military affairs, however, Bentinck failed to accomplish much. The only important
financial reforms introduced here was the halving of BATTA allowance to the military
personnel. BATTA was an allowance given according to status, over and above the regular
salary. Directors of the East India Company had previously tried reduce it, but they had not
completely succeeded due to biter opposition by those who were to be adversely affected.
For Bentinck too it was not easy job to attempt .Yet he took the step and reduce the BATTA
by fifty per cent within 400 miles of Calcutta. There was a strong agitation against it as was
to be expected, and the Anglo- Indian press hurled open insults and abuses on him. Bentinck
however stuck to his decision, and was ultimately able to win his way through.
His more important financial reforms, however, was his regulation of the opium
trade. There had been a great demand for opium in China and the Eastern Archipelago. And
although it was not a good moral step for a civilised nation to indulge in and encourage the
trade of an article such as opium, the British authorities in India had been exploiting this
surge of revenue, and Bentinck had little compunction in doing so yet more fully and
efficiently. Warren Hastings had tried oak this source. And when Bentinck took up the
charge of administration, opium was grown in Benares and Bihar under the monopoly of the
East India Company.
Opium was also grown in Malwa, but the British authorities had so far failed to draw
any profit therefrom. The reason for that its import into Bombay had been prohibited, and it
was therefore carried across Karachi to the Portuguese ports of Daman and Diu. From these
ports the Portuguese vessels carried it to the Eastern markets and earned enormous profits.
What Bentinck did was to permit the conveyance of opium from Malwa direct to the
Bombay port. And for this an efficient system of licenses was introduced which added by
large amounts to the profits of the government.
Another step taken by Bentinck to replenish his treasury was the resumption of the
rent free lands. At the time of acquiring the Dewani of Bengal and Orissa in 1765, the
company had confirmed what they consider to be the valid res free-land grants which
individuals and institutions held prior to this, Many of these grants, however, were later on
found to be fictitious, and many were so old that the proprietors had lost every documentary
and other such soils proofs of their grants to them. A regulation was passed in 1793 and
another in 1819 which authorised the collectors to examine the legality of these grants and
resume them if they were not proved to be regular. The proprietors were given the right to
bring their appeals to the civil courts . Under these Regulations many grants were thus
resumed.
The work, however, was not proceeding satisfactory, and therefore Bentinck passed
the Regulation III of 1828 by which the collectors were made more serious about their job,
and special commissioners were appointed to hear appeals from the court of collectors. The
argument of the proprietors that the grants being very old, they had lost the documentary
proofs, was rejected, and thus many were dispossessed of their lands inherited from the
ancestors. This added in income of another third lakhs of rupees to the government’s
coffers. But it was a dearly sought after prize. It caused a great discontentment among the
people, which increased under the successors of Bentinck and proved ultimately to be a
strong factor leading to the Mutiny of 1857.
Another reforms introduced by him belonged to the Land Revenue Settlement of the
North-Western Province. This Province had been created out of Oudh and the territories
secured from Sindhia. But so far no efficient land revenue settlement had been made which
could serve the purpose of the Government as well as encourage the people to employ their
heart to agriculture. Lord Wellesley’s five years’ settlement did not serve the purpose. The
period being too short, the people would not venture to improve their lands and find their
additional income robbed away by the enhancement of rate of land revenue after five years.
Bentinck understood their difficulty and consulted the best brains to remove it. Land was
surveyed, measured and mapped out, and regular records were prepared. The most
important step taken by him was that the settlement was fixed for thirty years, it being made
either with a ryot, a zamindar, or a village community. This plan of settlement became law
in 1833.
The arrangement thus made brought about a great advantage to the state as wall as to
the people. It added to the state revenues and made it easier for the government to draw long
term estimates. On the other hand, those employed in agriculture became certain of he star
demand for a good number of years, and thus could freely employ themselves in the
improvement of their land o enhance heir income. Regular registers and records came into
existence, and much of the vagueness in the system pointed out however was that the state
demand was unusually heavy, though it was conceded that it was a distinct improvement
upon that of the old.
 Yet another measure which introduced economy was the employment of Indians in
the Company’s services. As the English education spread, more Indians were available who
could replace the English in the Company’s service a comparatively cheaper rate. Bentinck
took steps, as will be discussed elsewhere, to take advantage of the situation.
The net result of all these financial measures was that instead of a deficit of one
million, now a surplus of much as euro 1 million appeared in the situation.

THE ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS:-

The Charter Act of 1833 passed during the time of Bentinck, declared that “no native of
India nor any natural born subject of His Majesty should be disabled from holding any
place, office, or employment by reason of religion, placed birth, descent or colour.” And
Bentinck expressed his willingness to work on this principle in the best of his earnestness.
Sir Charles Metcalfe commenting on this recommended the Indians should be employed in
all the departments in the first instance. Above them should be placed the European
superintendents who should combine in themselves all the local powers of a district under
them, uniting together he judicature, revenue and police authorities. These should be under
Commissioners, who in turn would be under a Board which would communicate with and
be “subject to the immediate control of the Government.”
Bentinck accepted these recommendations and introduced certain changes.
Previously a fair had been reposed in the Indians, and it was a determinate policy of the
Government, as under Lord Cornwallis, to employ only Europeans in the state services. But
the Europeans had proved too expensive. Moreover, by now the English education having
spread, a good number of Indians were available who could be employed in clerical and
other such jobs at lower rates of payment. The Indians also grudged the non-availability of
employment facilities, and their grievances had to be removed as far as possible.
Bentinck took steps to make some of the lower services available to the Indians, His
more important step in this connection however was his introduction of three grades of
judicial services in which the Indians were to be employed. The highest of these was that of
Sadar Amin, and his salary was to be rs 750 per month.
These steps of Bentinck were significant. Not only was a grievance of the Indians
partially removed, but also a substantial measure of financial savings resulted.

THE JUDICIAL REFORMS:-

The defects which necessitated a reform were : In the time of Lord Cornwallis who ruled as
Governor-General from 1786-1793, the Provinces of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa had been
divided into four divisions, and in each of these divisions was established a Court of Circuit
presided over by two covenanted servants of the company. Each of these circuit courts
moved in its respective divisions and decided the cases on the spot. Their decisions were
executed by district magistrate, who decided he minor cases themselves, but for the serious
cases they held the culprits in the prisons till the
Circuit Court met at the district headquarters and deal with them. The punishments
involving death or perpetual imprisonment had be confirmed by the Sadar Nizamat Adalat.
Besides, there were four Provincial Court of Appeal for the three provinces queried
at Calcutta, Murshidabad, Decca and Patna. They were presided over by three covenanted
servant of the Company each, and held original as well as the appellate jurisdiction. Their
decisions were final for the cases upto the value of Rs 1000. For higher cases the appeal lay
in the Sadar Diwani Adalat at Calcutta which supervised judicial administration and
entrained cases direct above the value of Rs 5000.
The system referred from several defects which required urgent attention. The first
defect was that the Company had acquired many new territories, and Calcutta as the
headquarters for the judicial administration was too far away from them. Secondly, there
was a serious inefficiency and irregularity in the Provisional Courts of Appeal and Circuit.
They, according to Bentinck, served only as “resting places for those members of the
service who were deemed unfit for higher responsibilities.” The judges of these courts
possessed no sufficient knowledge, and they were falling into arrears of work, The
undertrial remained in the imprisonment for months before a Circuit Court me at the district
headquarters and disposed of their cases. Besides, these undertrials suffered badly under
police oppression, but the Circuit Court failed in remedying the situation.
The entire system as it obtained, suffered from being too expensive, and yet involved
delay and unnecessary harassment. The Indians were only appointed as Munsifs, in Zilla
and city courts, while positions from higher responsibility and powers in the judicial
hierarchy they were excluded. Persian was the court language, and the litigants could not
express their grievance in their own language.
Assisted by Sir Charles Metcalfe, Hot Mackenze and Butterworh Bayley , Benitinck
took certain very solid steps to obviate these defects. His first step was to abolish the
Provincial Court of Appeal and Circuit altogether. In place of them, Commissioners of
Revenue and Circuit were appointed to do the same job. The Bengal Presidency was divided
for this purpose into twenty divisions, and each of the divisions was placed under a
commissioner. Besides performing the function of the abolished courts, the commissioners
were also to supervise the Police and collectors of revenue in their respective jurisdictions.
For revenue cases they were themselves subordinated to the Board of Revenue, while for
criminal cases they were to work under the control of Sadar Nizamat Adalat.
A Regulation was passed in 1829 which empowered the Magistrates to award upto
two years imprisonment with labour. Appeals from them lay to the court of the
commissioners of that area. The Regulation of 1831 empowered the collectors to decide
summarily the cases relating to rent. In these cases no appeal lay to any higher court, the
only remedy granted against the decision of a collector being a regular sir against him in a
civil court.
In the same year, 1831, the sessions work of the commissioners was transferred to
the civil judges; and thus the office of the sessions and district judge originated.
Another Regulation was passed in 1831 under which respectable Indians were to be
appointed in the zilla and city courts. They were to be called Munsifs, were to get fixed salaries
and could decide court cases up to the value of three hundred rupees. It was also provided in
1831 that the Governor-General-in-Council would appoint respectable Indians to the post of
Sadar Amins, who would hear appeals from the zilla and city courts and would
constitute the highest Indian judicial authority. Like Munsifs they would get fixed and
regular salaries. But it was expressly laid down that the cases relating to Europeans and the
Americans could be tried neither by the Munsifs, nor by Sadar Amins.
In 1832, separate courts of Sadar Diwani Adalat and Sadar Nizamat Adalat were
established at Allahabad. And a regulation of 1832 introduced a sort of jury system in
Bengal, the basic purpose of it being the securing of Indian help in the shape of a jury for
the European judges. The Regulation provided that the judges could refer the cases to
Panchayats, which would consist of respectable Indians and would hold enquiry and supply
reports to the judges. The judges were also empowered to appoint Indian assessors who
would give their opinions in a case separately.
The judicial reforms of Lord William Bentinck proved to be yet another turning point
in the history of Indian judiciary. While the abolition of the Provincial Courts of Appeal and
Circuit and appointment in their place of Commissioners introduced an individual
responsibility and made it less possible for the police to be oppressive and undertrials to
suffer suspense, the introduction of the Indian element into the judicial machinery of the
country was a significant step which set the ball towards the Indianisation of services
rolling. their cases to Panchayats consisting of Indians, while on the one hand Bentinck
provided for the jury system to grow in this country, on the other hand he made it more
possible for the local knowledge and opinion to have its effect in serious problems of
justice. While it would be wrong to say that these reforms threw open the doors of
employment to the Indians, it would be no exaggeration to say that they proved to be a
major step towards the direction. The way for a campaign under the great leaders like Sir
Surendra Nath Bannerjea was opened, and India slowly moved towards her goal.

EDUCATIONAL REFORMS:-
"Of all the acts associated with the administration of Lord William Bentinck” thus writes
his biographer Demetrius C. Boulger, "there was none more important or of greater
consequence than the new education policy inaugurated in 1834, which was based on the
establishment of English as the official language of the country." A brief review of the early
developments in this field before the discussion of the changes brought about in the time of
Bentinck may not be out of place.

“It is a historical fact, that the Ancient India from the period of Gautama Buddha and
Mahavira Jain to that of Yuan Chwang was a well-educated country by modern standards."
The Indian Universities like Nalanda and the Taxila were famous and many foreign students
came to them to secure higher education. With the decline of the Hindu power, however, the
ancient glory of India declined though education was not entirely neglected, and it
continued, if less by State patronage, at least by sufficient private efforts, so that when the
East India Company founded its power, there were numerous Pathshalas attached to the
Hindu religious institutions, and as numerous Maktabs linked with mosques, etc. which
imparted education to the country's children. But these educational institutions were
irregular and imperfect. There existed no regular state control over them, nor did the
teachers always follow this as a regular profession.

Under the British, education was first seriously taken up as a Department of

Administration only in 1854. From 1854 to 1871 Its distinctive note was the extension of
higher secondary schools with the University Entrance Examination as their objective. After
1871 attention began to be paid to primary education, but higher education still largely held
the field. But this does not mean that before 1854 education was entirely neglected. In fact
foundations of a sound system of education were laid only during this period, over which a
superstructure was raised after 1854.

As the Company developed its power, in the initial stages no interference was made
in the existing system of education, and the endowments of the Indian princes for the
purpose were recognised It was Warren Hastings who for the first time got directly
interested in the subject, and founded a College at Calcutta in 1772 under the name of
Calcutta Madrasa to train the Muslims for the Company’s services. In 1785 the Bengal
Asiatic Society was established by Sir William Jones for the encouragement of historical
researches. And in 1791 Duncan, a Resident of Benaras, opened a Sanskrit College in that
city, "for the preservation and cultivation of the Laws, Literature and Religion of the nation,
to accomplish the same purpose for the Hindus as the Madrasa for the Mohammedans and
specially qualified Hindu Assistants to European Judges." The efforts of John Owen, the
Chaplain to the Bengal Presidency, however, to set up schools for teaching English to the
people, failed.

In 1811, Lord Minto complained that the development of science and literature was
being completely neglected in India. So did his colleague, T. Lumseden.

It was in these circumstances that the Charter Act of 1813 was passed which
instructed the Indian Government that "a sum of notices than one lakh rupees in a year shall
be set apart and applied to the revival and improvement of literature and for the introduction
and promotion of knowledge of the sciences among the inhabitants of the British territories
in India." But for more than twenty years, there being no definite plan for educational
development, the sum of one lakh rupees earmarked every year went on accumulating, and
could not be used.
 As a result of all these activities the English language and education developed their
popularity. The demand for them increased while that for purely Sanskrit and Arabic
learning declined, so that even those institutions meant for the latter purposes had to attach
English classes to meet the popular demand.

A question which arose was, whether English or Oriental learning should be

developed in the country. The sum of one lakh rupees annually earmarked for education had
not yet been used. The annual grant of one lakh rupees was raised by the Charter Act of
1833 to 100,000, and now Lord Bentinck, had to take up the question seriously and decide
upon a scheme by which the money could be expended. A great controversy developed as to
what type of education should be developed by the Government officially. Two schools of
thought emerged, the one led by H.H. Wilson which supported Oriental learning, and the
other led by Sir Charles Trevelyan and later on strengthened by Sir Charles Macaulay and
Raja Rammohun Roy which stood for English education.

The Orientalists argued that the original intention of the Charter Act of 1813
development of Oriental learning and, therefore, this money could not be expended for any
other purpose than this. The Oriental learning was the best for the Orientals and suited to
their inclinations and aptitudes and it developed their best qualities.Moreover any effort to
develop English learning would seriously injure the existing efforts of the private agencies
in Pathshalas, and Madrasas and other such institutions, and education would thereby
receive a set-back. Nor was the Sanskrit and Arabic literature inferior to the English. There
were great treasures in the ancient Hindu thought which India could not afford to neglect. A
silent argument was that their ignorance of English thought would keep the Indians
submissive to the British.

On the other hand the arguments of the English School, too, were no less strong and
weighty. A committee appointed under Lord Macaulay as Chairman in 1835 to make
recommendations reached a deadlock, while Lord Macaulay in a brilliant Minute expounded
the benefits of English learning. He argued forcefully that the intention of the authors of the
Act of 1813 was to devote the granted funds only, for the English education. He asserted
that nobody could ever deny that "a single shelf of a good European library was worth the
whole native literature of India." And further: “Neither as the languages of law nor as the
languages of religions have Sanskrit or Arabic any peculiar claim to our encouragement."
Moreover, the spread of English education would train the Indians to under stand the
English system, and it would provided cheap Indian clerks, as others argued. The spread of
the English culture would develop a demand for English goods in this country and give a
great impetus to the English industries. Nor did the argument of the Orientalists that after
getting English education the Indians would not remain submissive, appeal to them. For
Macaulay declared: "Are we to keep the people of India ignorant in order that we may keep
them submissive?" In fact, he said, instructed in European knowledge, if in some future age
the Indians demanded European institutions, that "will be the proudest day in English
History.”

Be that as it may, there is no doubt that the modern Western learning had its merits.
Lord Bentinck was prepared to be influenced by Macaulay and his followers, and ultimately
on 7 March 1935 he passed a resolution in his Council "all the funds at the disposal of the
Government would henceforth be spent in imparting to the Indians a knowledge of English
literature and science.”

While "the colleges of Oriental learning were not to be abolished, the practice of
supporting their students during their period of education was to be discontinued," and the
"Government funds were not to be spent on the printing of Oriental works.”

The merits and demerits of the English learning are too well known to be discussed in detail.
In its favour we could say that it threw open the floodgates of the treasures of English
knowledge and revolutionised the whole gamut of thought in this country. A new class of
literates arose, which, inspired by the English ideas of liberty and democracy, fought for
these privileges in India. The common language and common thought gave Indians a
political unity, and that alone is worth anything India can pay for. Yet on the other hand,
under the glamour of the Western self-assertive attitude of life, India began to lose the
characteristic features of her ancient thought, which were obligation, duty and mutual
service. Under the impact the English education in India, Indian behaviour and mode of life
and habits, and this created wide markets for the consumption of English goods has
changed.India began to apt the West in her food, dress in this country. India began
economically to be exploited even more.
 ABOLITION OF SATI:
“A memorable act of Lord W i
l l i a m B e n t i n c k ' s
government, and the one with
which his name will be most
prominently associated in
history, was the abolition of
widow-burning.”

ThewordSatiis
perhaps derived from Sat,
which means truth. The origin
of the Sati system, in which a
widow committed herself to
fire on the funeral pyre of her
husband, is not very definitely
known Pyare Lal, the Private
Secretary of Mahatma Gandhi,
dug out certain facts which
showed its probable origin.
Among the ancient Aryans
considerable freedom was permitted to a marriageable girl to choose her husband and she
often fell in love at a premature age and married a man only to discover later on that he was
after all not the one with whom she would spend her life. She would fall in love with
another man and try poisoning her husband to death to remove the obstacle from her way.
As such cases began to increase, and married men began to die young, the elders decreed
that henceforth if a woman's husband died before a child was born to them, she would have
to commit herself to fire together with her husband’s body. The practice of Sati was thus
started, which we do not know how, with the passage of time, became sanctified, and it
became a religious duty of every virtuous widow to perform .

The Sati as it was under the British, was committed particularly by higher classes, as also
among the ancient Greeks, Germans, Slavs and other races, and it was attended by recitation
of verses and special rituals. It was supposed to be voluntary and was unlike the custom
sustained in Central and Western Asia, and in Eastern Europe, where after the death of a
man his widows and slave-girls were purchased at his grave. At the time of Sati, a widow
put on her best ornaments and dress, and decorated herself. All her ornaments and costly
attire fell to the Brahmins before she jumped into fire, or after she had been reduced to
ashes. We have an instance of the widows of Jawahir Singh, the wazir of Punjab after the
death of Ranjit Singh, who committed themselves to fire, and the Sikh soldiers who stood
guards, as in the words of Latif, "remorselessly plundered them, and as the unfortunate
women were mounting the funeral pyre, these villainous guards tore away their nose and ear
ornaments (which were worn in strict conformity with their religion) from their
persons….snatched from the fire the trinkets and embroidery on their costly attire.”

Be that as it may, it should be very much obvious that vested interests had created the
custom, which were bound to opposed any proposal at reforming the evil. Akbar had tried to
reform, but So did Albuquerque in Goa. In 1823 the Court of Directors failed. hinted at its
abolition, provided there was no active opposition Amherst demanded the opinion of his
officers on the subject, but there was no unanimity.

When Bentinck came, this rite was rampant. "The number of Satis steadily increased, and
the number of widows immolated in a single year in the lower Provinces alone sometimes
exceeded 800, while the average for the ten years prior to 1828 did not fall below 600.”
William Bentinck was determined to remove the crime, but like a wise man, in a matter so
intricately interwoven with religious beliefs, he proceeded cautiously. Before proceeding in
the matter he wanted to assure himself that no serious opposition was to be apprehended
from the people, particularly from the soldiery. Opinion of 49 important officers was invited
on the subject; and of these five opposed any interference; twelve favoured abolition, but no
absolute and direct prohibition under the Government authority; eight supported prohibition
by indirect interference of magistrates and other public officers; while the rest advocated a
total and immediate suppression of the crime.

The matter was precipitated in 1828 when four out of the five judges of the Nizamat Adalat
placed on their record that it was safe to suppress the crime immediately. Some enlightened
Indians such as Raja Rammohun Roy also supported him. And in a Minute of 8 November
1929 regarding Sati, William Bentinck declared: “The first and primary object of my heart
is the benefit of the Hindus. know nothing so important to the improvement of their future
condition as the establishment of a purer morality, whatever their belief and a more just
conception of the will of God. The Regulation of December 1829 was passed, which
declared Sati as “culpable homicide"
 As a reaction to this, there were some disturbances, particularly in Bengal where
some people endeavoured to fight in the courts of law. A test case was submitted by them to
the Privy Council in London, while a petition to the King was drawn up. But their case was
weakened by persons such as Dwarkanath Tagore and Rammohun Roy who wrote letters
supporting the Government's action.
 THE THUGS:

The Thugs were an all-India

association of robbers who moved
in bands of three hundred or even
more and could collect in large
numbers at the times of emergency.
They committed organised crime in
secret connivance with the local
chieftains, zamindars and officials,
and accompanied the travellers for
miles till a proper spot for the crime
was reached. It was an essential trait
of their system that
they strangled the victim before robbing him.

It was only in 1799 after the capture of Seringapatam that the British first realised
that the Thugs had an all-India association. Further investigations were made by officers
like Thornton and Captain Sleeman which showed that each band had a regular gradation of
officers to command them. A Jamadar, for instance, before he was ted so, must be expert in
bribing and hoodwinking the local officials, or he must belong to a family whose ancestors
have been following this profession from times immemorial, or he must enjoy a reputation
as an expert strangler, or should possess the qualities of a natural leader. If he did not
possess any of these qualifications, he could not be appointed a Jamadar. Only an
outstanding and experienced member was appointed a Subedar.

Further it was discovered that they had a very well defined system of dividing the plunder
amongst them. A special share was always set aside for the leader; the second special share
going to the local chieftain or an official in connivance with whom the crime was
perpetrated. Then a share went for religious ceremonies, which were an essential part. For
we learn from Captain Sleeman that the Thugs believed that the crime had originated with
the goddess Kali who always helped her worshippers in the matter, if she was properly
propitiated, and if the rules of Thugee were properly followed. After this then, the entire
plunder was divided into one share for each member; two parts going to the actual murderer.
 After the discovery of a few facts about them, the Government of the East India
Company tried to suppress this crime. But proceedings were slow and hałf-hearted.
Moreover, the Company had not yet become a sovereign power in India, wielding its
authority over her territories far and wide so as to attempt a problem of an all-India
magnitude. It was, therefore, reserved only for William Bentinck, when the British power in
India was consolidated, to turn serious thought to the subject.

In 1829 Bentinck instructed his agent in the Narbada territories to take serious action
against the miscreants wherever found. Captain an, who had gathered a vast knowledge on
the subject, was appointed to assist him. Besides this, the officers of the Government all the
cases and further information regarding their practices. The entire Government all over the
country were issued a special order to report mental machinery was alerted on the subject.

As the matter was seriously proceeded with all over the country, further information
flowed to the Centre. Many difficulties were pointed out by different district magistrates and
other officers, which they came across in dealing with the Thugs. It was pointed out that the
connivance of the local officials and zamindars made it very difficult to apprehend the
culprits. In a case from Bundelkhand, it was reported that the local authorities had a definite
understanding with Thug leaders. Such collusions sometimes went very far and in one case
a Thug approver informed the authorities that they paid a tribute to the Gwalior State.

Another difficulty in distinguishing the miscreants was that they most of their time in
respectable professions, only occasionally indulge in crime. And when they did indulge in
it, they never did so within thirty miles of their abode. At times they made a journey of
hundreds miles, and for days together, taking with them their children below twelve' years
of age, so as to avoid suspicion; and taking along also bullocks and donkeys to pass as
merchants. The crimes were committed in secluded spots. As Thornton wrote: "Much
frequented roads, passing through extensive jungles, where the ground is soft for the grave,
or the jungle thick to cover them, and where the local authorities took no notice of the
bodies, were favourite spots.”

Thornton gives an interesting account as to how the strangling was done. "While travelling
along, one of the gang suddenly throws a rope or cloth round the neck of the devoted
individual and retains hold of one end; the other end being seized by an accomplice. The.
instrument of death, crossed behind the neck, is then drawn very tight, the two Thugs who
hold it pressing the head of the victim forwards: a third villain, who is in readiness behind
the traveller, seizes him by the legs, and he is thus thrown on the ground. In this position
there is li is aided by kicks inflicted in the manner most likely to produce vital injury, and
the sufferer is thus quickly dispatched." The murder of the victims made it yet more difficult
to get information and trace all little opportunity of resistance. The operation of noose the
criminals.
 The greatest difficulty was that the law of the Company required a definite proof
before proceeding against a person. Mere suspicion however strong, could not help. And in
definite proof of the crime was not found.

In order, to obviate the above difficulties, a Regulation was therefore passed in 1830
whereby a mere association of a person with a robber, even if he had not committed a crime,
could lead to his arrest. The enactment of this measure made it now possible to take up the
matter more seriously, and within a few years after this thousands of these robbers were
arrested and punished by death, transportation for life, or were sent to the reformatory at
Jabalpur. Thus slowly ended the crime which had baffled the authorities for so long.

Some other reforms carried out during the time of Bentinck, related to the Public
Works Department. The construction of a road from Bombay to Agra was commenced.
Digging up of irrigation canals in North-West Provinces was undertaken, and the Grand
Trunk Road between Calcutta and Delhi was put under repair. A measure was also enacted
which enabled the Hindu converts to Christianity to inherit their ancestral property. sions to
Christianity smoother. This made conversions to Christianity smoother.
ESTIMATE OF WILLIAM BENTINCK
Lord William Bentinck was a “straightforward, honest, upright, benevolent, sensible man”.
His social reforms such as abolition of sati and prevention of child sacrifice eradicated age
old evils from Hindu society. It is gratifying to note that “Bentinck acted where others had
talked”. To enforce the regulations regarding the prohibition of sati, he was prepared to risk
his own position. Such courage and straightforwardness were seldom found among the
administrators of those days. His educational reforms heralded a new age in India.

After William Bentinck, Lord Auckland (1836-42) became Governor- General. The First
Afghan War (1836-42) was fought during his administration. Due to his failure in
Afghanistan he was recalled in 1842. Lord Ellenborough succeeded him and ended the
Afghan War. He also annexed the Sindh. His successor, Lord Hardinge (1844-48) fought
the first Anglo-Sikh War (1845-46) and concluded the Treaty of Lahore.
 \ BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS REFERRED :-

1. OUTLINES OF INDIAN LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY by M P JAIN 7th

Edition.
2. LANDMARKS IN INDIAN LEGAL AND CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY by
V.D. KULSHRESHTHA

3. ADVANCED STUDY IN HISTORY OF MODERN INDIA by J.L. MEHTA

INTERNET SOURCES:-
1. REFORMS OF WILLIAM BENTINCK on http://www.historydiscussion.net/history-of-
india/reforms-made-by-lord-william-bentick/2561
2. ARTICLE by PHILIP MASON on https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lord-
William-Bentinck