• huf [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 day ago

    i remember hearing it in a lecture by an indian professor on youtube, but i cant remember anything else… the account of the ban by the british on wikipedia smacks of white man’s burden, which fits with what the indian professor said in that lecture.

    edit: i mean, the brits banned the practice in 1829 and i’m sure they patted themselves on their backs for it, but remember what they were doing in india at the time. they definitely didnt give a shit about indians. listen to this smug british governor writing to some would be widow-burners:

    Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs!

    yes, very based, widow burning is terrible, but this is a british governor of an indian province, operating the orphan crushing machine on behalf of the british.