Company School, early 19th Century

The Hindu custom of suttee, the widow sacrificing herself by climbing onto the funeral pyre of her deceased husband, fascinated the British in India, causing both revulsion and horror but also a certain romantic admiration for this supreme act of fidelity. From the 13th century onwards travellers have written accounts that describe the Hindu wife dressed in her finest garments and bedecked with jewels, led by friends and relatives to the pyre.

This practice was one of the most controversial and emotional issues of the early-19th century in India and Hindu society was split over the matter. In 1832 Lord Bentinck succeeded in having a bill passed that outlawed suttee.