Begum Rokeya: Tale of a Visionary

Writer, educationist and feminist activist, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932), affectionately known as Begum Rokeya, was a multifaceted genius. She is often considered to be Bengal's earliest and boldest feminist, as well as the earliest and best of the female and Muslim writers of the Bengal Renaissance. Rokeya's contemporary, Mohitlal Majumdar (1888-1952), once described her as the embodiment of the soul and conscience of her age. Her biographer and close associate, Shamsun Nahar Mahmud (1908-64), dubbed her a spider mother, who sacrificed her life to nurture future generations of Bengali women, and added, The fate of the Bengali Muslim women has changed radically within the space of half a century, and there is no way to deny that this benevolent woman played the most significant role behind it.