The tone of the first passage best supports which of the following suppositions about British motivations for eradicating the sati ritual?

(A) The British intended principally to Christianize India’s Hindu population. (B) The British sought to end what they considered an inhumane practice without endangering their own authority. (C) They acted out of a progressive concern for women’s equality. (D) They were impelled by a racially prejudiced disdain for all Indian customs.Explanation: (B) This question involves use of evidence and historical interpretation. As the leading official in a joint-stock company operating under a government charter, Bentinck was concerned above all with profits and the maintenance of British power, as in (B) He was only moved to act on his moral and religious convictions once his main priorities were met. The BEIC actively discouraged—but did not prevent—Christian missionary activity, and it often ignored local customs it found objectionable, precisely because it understood how native discontent might destabilize its position. So A and D are incorrect, and Bentinck, although seemingly sincere in disliking the deaths of women caused by sati, gives no indication that he favored women’s equality.