Missionaries opened the first girls' schools, sheltered widows, and joined the long fights against child marriage, female infanticide and sati — the burning of widows. The Serampore missionaries spent years documenting sati and petitioning against it, and, with the reformer Ram Mohan Roy, helped bring about its abolition in Bengal in 1829. In Travancore, the drawn-out Channar or 'Upper-Cloth' revolt saw Nadar women win the right to cover their upper bodies — a dignity caste custom had denied them — with London Missionary Society backing, until a royal proclamation finally granted it in 1859.
- Sati abolished in Bengal by the Bengal Sati Regulation of 4 December 1829.
- The Channar 'Upper-Cloth' revolt (c. 1813–1859) won Nadar women the right to cover their upper bodies; the proclamation came in 1859.
Shared creditThe courage was overwhelmingly the women's own, and Indian reformers led — Ram Mohan Roy on sati, and Vaikundar and later Ayyankali on caste dress codes. Missionaries were allies, not authors.
The honest complexity: European reformers sometimes framed these fights in condescending, 'civilizing' terms, and the reforms were bound up with colonial authority. The gains were real; the framing was often paternalistic.
Sources & further reading