Opposition to Sati, culminating in passage of an ordinance against it by
the British, was galvanized by Raja Rammohun Roy, a "native." He had a
great deal of difficulty interesting the British in doing anything about
it, since their instinctive approach (later codified as overt colonial
policy) was not to interfere with the cultural traditions of colonized
people, indeed sometimes to strengthen them subtly, so that nothing would
cause trouble that might get in the way of economic reconfiguration for
surplus-extraction.
Like so much of the narrative of civilizing imperialism, this notion of
the British anti-sati crusade is largely mythological. I am at a loss to
understand why Spivak didn't mention Roy and chose to repeat this
particular myth; it's especially puzzling since every educated Bengali
knows about him.
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