Author: Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
Barnita Bagchi/
Translator(s): Barnita Bagchi
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2005
Language: English
Pages: 197
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0144000032
Description
Sultana’s Dream and Padmarag are boldly provocative works, particularly in the context of the era that spawned them.
Written in English in 1905, Sultana’s Dream is a delightful satirical work set in Ladyland, where men are in purdah and women firmly in charge of home and government.
Published in 1924 and translated here for the first time, Padmarag complements Sultana’s Dream in its espousal of women’s personal journeys towards emancipation. Resonant with autobiographical undertones, the novella is both a powerful indictment of male oppression and a celebration of Rokeya’s faith in a universalist society where women, regardless of race, class, creed and religion, reject the diktat of a tyrannical patriarchal society in favour of a life devoted to improving their lot.
Playful, fascinating and intelligent, these novellas offer a keen insight into the psyche of a largely self-taught social activist who has, more than seventy years after her death, come to acquire near-iconic status in South Asia.
REVIEW
The spirit, conscience, and intelligence of Bengali Muslim society has expressed itself in a female icon.
-Kazi Abdul Wadud
Contents
INTRODUCTION
SULTANA’S DREAM
PADMARAG
PREFACE
ONE
Journey into the Unknown
TWO
Homeless
THREE
Dina-Tarini, or The Saviour of the Distressed
FOUR
Tarini Bhavan
FIVE
Padmarag, or The Ruby
SIX
All Alone
SEVEN
The Patient
EIGHT
Saratkumar
NINE
Benevolence
TEN
Domestic Life
ELEVEN
A Deep Heart
TWELVE
Saudamini’s Fire
THIRTEEN
Another Meeting
FOURTEEN
The Beauty of Fire
FIFTEEN
A Poem Herself
SIXTEEN
Valiant Young Woman
SEVENTEEN
The Jubilee and The Prize Distribution
EIGHTEEN
Mirage
NINETEEN
Holding Court in School
TWENTY
The Secret of the Pendant
TWENTY-ONE
What Society Gave Back
TWENTY-TWO
Goddess of Stone
TWENTY-THREE
Repaying the Debt
TWENTY-FOUR
The Subarnarekha River
TWENTY-FIVE
Lover of the World
TWENTY-SIX
An Attempt at a Truce
TWENTY-SEVEN
Farewell
TWENTY-EIGHT
Fellow Travellers
GLOSSARY
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY