On what basis did Raja Ram Mohun Roy attack the practice of sati?

Answer & explanation

Correct answer: option 1

The correct answer is Option (1) → Humanitarian and natural rights doctrines as well as Hindu shastras

Option (1) Humanitarian and natural rights doctrines as well as Hindu shastras — Correct. Raja Ram Mohun Roy fought sati on two grounds together. He appealed to modern humanitarian and natural rights ideas, and also to the Hindu shastras, so modern and traditional thought worked side by side.

Option (2) Navya-nyaya logic as well as the works of Western biologists — Incorrect. Navya-nyaya logic and the works of the biologist Julius Huxley belong to Kandukiri Viresalingam. His book The Sources of Knowledge showed this mix, and it had no link with the campaign against sati.

Option (3) Free enquiry as well as the laws of nature found by science — Incorrect. Free enquiry (ijtihad) and the laws of nature found by modern science mark Sir Syed Ahmed Khan's reading of Islam. They were not the grounds of Roy's attack on sati.

Option (4) The glory of the pre-Aryan age as well as Bhakti teachings — Incorrect. The glory of the pre-Aryan age was recalled by Jotiba Phule in the debate on female education. Bhakti movements fought social discrimination before colonial times, and neither was Roy's basis.

NCERT (2026-27): “2.1 Social reform movements in the 19th and early 20th century …
Ø Raja Ram Mohun Roy attacked the practice of sati on the basis of both appeals to humanitarian and natural rights doctrines as well as Hindu shastras. Ø Ranade’s writings entitled The Texts of the Hindu Law on the Lawfulness of the Remarriage of Widows and Vedic Authorities for Widow Marriage elaborated the shastric sanction for remarriage of widows. Ø The content of new education was modernising and liberal. The literary content of the courses in the humanities and social sciences was drawn from the literature of the European Renaissance, Reformation and Enlightenment. Its themes were humanistic, secular and liberal. Ø Sir Syed Ahmed Khan’s interpretation of Islam emphasised the validity of free enquiry (ijtihad) and the alleged similarities between Koranic revelations and the laws of nature discovered by modern science. Ø Kandukiri Viresalingam’s The Sources of Knowledge reflected his familiarity with navya- nyaya logic. At the same time he translated the works of Julius Huxley, an eminent biologist.”