Begum Rokeya
(at present in Bangladesh). Calcutta was then the
capital of India.
The period was of enlightenment. Since 1840, the burning of widows alive, sacrifice of children to the
rivers, and offering of humans to the Goddesses
had been made unlawful by the British East India
Company.
outside world. Rokeya had to stay indoors under
purdah from the age of five. Her elders told her,- "It is not safe for us to come out of the zenana, as
long as there are men about the streets."
Rokeya could never understand the rationale
behind it, - why should the innocent women instead of the wicked men be shut indoors?
Rokeya secretly learn to read Bengali and English books.
Syed Sakhawat Hossain. He was a widower in his
late thirties, left with a young daughter. His mother
tongue was however not Bengali, but Urdu. Rokeya was encouraged and helped by her educated
husband to read and write, especially in English.
relatives, she covered her head with the end of her sari (as in her photograph, p.3), following the
custom of her time. She pleaded for a moderate
purdah. She argued: 'Veiling is not natural, it is
ethical. Animals have no veils.' She was firmly
against the seclusion of women caused by the
purdah system.
women's education. She cherished the idea of
starting a school for the Muslim girls. Rokeya was
not lucky enough to go to school although her
father was a rich landlord. Sakhawat Hossain
donated a sum of money to help her realize her
goal.
1932, just after she had presided over a session of
the Indian Women's Conference at Aligarh near
Delhi. She was buried in Sodpur near Calcutta.
her husband's death from diabetes, she started a
Muslim girl's school with only eight students.
Rokeya's younger sister Homaira, who was also
widowed, became her companion. Soon the school faced violent opposition from many influential men
who were strongly against Muslim women's
education. Then, in 1916, Rokeya founded the
association Anjumane Khawatine Islam to build
public opinion for women's education, equal rights
and self-reliance.
