#begum rokeya

[passing-through-bd]

Happy Begum Rokeya Day!!

What Begum Rokeya knew about changing Bengali Muslims from within

[womenshistory]

Sultana’s Dream by Chitra Ganesh, 2018.

These works were inspired by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain's feminist utopian story of the same title.

[blorbocedes]

reading sultana's dream and crying, actually. written by preeminent Bengali scholar, feminist and activist, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain in 1905 imagining a matriarchal utopia in a fictional story

Sultana's Dream.

it's only 3.9k words if you want to read it

[yourlocalaphrodisian]

Happy Late Women's Day!

Your boy got the date messed up but my social worker grandma went to a meeting yesterday and was telling stories about it and I went "wait it was Women's Day???" Your boy thought it was in August.

Anyway, today's post is dedicated to one of my all time favourite women in history.

Rokeya Shakhawat Hossein

More commonly known as Begum Rokeya. Mrs. Hossein was born in 1880 in the city of Pairaband, Rangpur in what was then called the Bengal Presidency of British India. She was a pioneer of women's rights in South Asia, and today I present to you the life and achievements of an Unsung Heroine of Bengal. Let me, today, tell you of Begom Rokeya, who changed the life of women not only in Bangladesh, but in the entire Indian subcontinent.

Born into an extremely conservative Muslim society, Rokeya Khatun was raised under extreme purdah in the family of a Zamindar (called Jomidar in Bangla). She was kept in her home under guard of her male relatives as was the case in every Muslim woman in Bengal. Her education was limited to the Muslim standard (for women) of Farsi and Arabic. However, Rokeya and her elder sister Korimunnesa, to the great disdain of their family, learnt both English and Bangla (called Bangala at the time) from their older brother, Ibrahim Saber.

Rokeya was married to Khan Bahadur Shakhawat Hossain, an Urdu-speaking deputy magistrate of Bhagalpur, Bihar, after the death of his first wife. Shakhawat Hossain was a member of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. As a liberal (rare at the time really), encouraged his wife to keep pursuing her dreams in learning Bangla. He also encouraged her to write and advised her (and she heeded) to take up Bangla as the primary language of her works. Shakhawat Hossain unfortunately passed in 1909, an year after his wife's first English work.

Rokeya's literary career began when she launched her essay 'পিপাসা/Pipasha (Thirst)'. She later published her most notable work 'মতিচুর (Motichur)', the first volume in 1904 and the second in 1922. She later wrote the Novelette Sultana's Dream, which was a satirical science fiction story where men and women reversed societal roles. The system was matriarchal and men were confined to mandanas (male equivalent of zenana, rooms in Indian and Irani houses were women were secluded to). Rokeya also depicts innovative gadgets such as cloud-condensers, solar ovens and flying cars which benefitted the entirety of society. Other literary works she has written consist of "পদ্মরাগ/Padmarag (Essence of Lotus)", "সৌরজগত/Shourjogot (Solar System)", "অবারধ বাসিনি/Obarodh Bashini (The Secluded Woman)", "বলিগর্থ/Boligortho (Sacrifice Pit)", "নারীর অধিকার/Narir Odhikar (Women's Rights; unfinished)".

Five months after her husband's death, Rokeya established Shakhawat Memorial Girls' High School, naming it after her husband. It was first set in Bhagalpur, where a majority of people spoke Urdu, with a total of five students. However, after a dispute with her in-laws over land, she moved the school to Kolkata where a majority spoke Bangla. She ran the school for 24 years.

Rokeya also founded Anjuman-e-Khawateen-e-Islam (Islamic Women's Association) which regularly held debates and conferences regarding the status of women and education. She advocated for reform, especially of women's rights. She gathered Anjuman-e-Khawateen-e-Islam to fight the conservative idealogy of Bengali Muslims by preaching the lost teachings of pure Islam, uncorrupted by misogynist men.

Every story has an ending, and Rokeya's ended on her 52nd Birthday. This great woman passed away at that date, leaving behind an incomparable legacy. Every woman and man of South Asia is indebted this woman. So on this day where we celebrate Women, let us celebrate Begum Rokeya Shakhawat Hossain.

Say her name, and never forget.

[celebratingamazingwomen]

Begum Rokeya (1880-1932) was an author and social activist in British India, today Bangladesh. She is considered a pioneer of women’s rights and female education on the Indian subcontinent.

She has written extensively, both fiction and nonfiction, advocating for equal treatment of the genders and better educational opportunities for women. In 1909 she founded the first school for Bengali Muslim girls in Kolkata, and in 1916, the Muslim Women’s Association, an organisation which fought for equal education and employment rights.

[oldschoolsciencefiction]

Meet Begum Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, author of the feminist utopian sci fi novella “Sultana’s Dream”. The Bengali writer and social activist penned the story in 1905.

Sultana’s Dream depicts an alternate reality in which men, not women, are subjected to purdah, the practice of female seclusion exercised in some South Asian Muslim and Hindu societies. The novella contains numerous science fiction elements including flying cars, automated farming technology, weather control, and solar power.

December 9th is Royeka Day in Bangladesh during which the social reformer’s accomplishments and legacy are commemorated. 

[yad-aljawza]

Books I read in January and February.

[fariadraws]

I'm late but happy birthday Begum Rokeya—the pioneer of women's liberation in Bangladesh!

(It's a failed attempt, she doesn't look like this!)