Rammohun Roy and Early Victorian Feminism

Abstract

Rammohun Roy’s campaign against widow burning became known in Britain through multiple means. Before the Precepts of Jesus controversy, Baptist missionaries at Serampore introduced Rammohun’s sati writings to British audiences. James Silk Buckingham lauded his efforts on printed page and in lecture halls. Periodicals reproduced his pamphlets. It was James Peggs, however, who did the most to popularize the view that Rammohun was an important authority clinching the argument that the practice could be safely abolished. In the process, Peggs helped introduce Rammohun’s advanced views of women to audiences that included early feminists.