A review by readingunderpinkskies
Sultana's Dream and Padmarag by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain
4.0
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain was a Bengali writer, educationist, social activist, and advocate of women's rights. She wrote Sultana’s Dream in 1905, which is a feminist utopia novella, where women run the world and men are in the purdah system. (Delightful satire, to say the least.)
Padmarag is another novel published in 1924, chronicling the lives of women from diverse religions, backgrounds and ethnicities, who are working together for the upliftment of women in their society.
I was most pleasantly surprised to read her progressive ideas and way of thinking, considering the era in which she lived and published these works.
Warning: Mild spoilers ahead.
Padmarag refers to the central character of the novel, via whom Begum Rokeya gives readers a most unconventional ending of courtship, rejecting domesticity in favor of individualism.
Rokeya’s Padmarag is a woman who has gone through a series of misfortunes, and arrives at Tarini Bhavan (the welfare center / school) utterly heartbroken and dejected.
Her story arch then moves to the unfolding of her personality to a strong, hardworking, self-sacrificing woman who though very much in love, chooses not to accept the expected path of domesticity.
The novel also depicts the circumstances of women in those days via other characters working at Tarini Bhavan, most of whom have back stories of suffering, either in patriarchy or matrimony, and have left their pasts behind to dedicate their lives to others in need. It portrays the suffering of women in the era, as well as the struggles of women in power during those days.
It does an excellent job of championing education for women, and not just the rote system that is the norm in our country, but quality education that would help them be self-sufficient and not ‘wooden dolls’.
Where Sultana’s Dream is a cheerful, often hilarious satire in an imaginary world, Padmarag is a gritty, melodramatic & authentic work of literature that outlines issues women face even to this day.
Padmarag is another novel published in 1924, chronicling the lives of women from diverse religions, backgrounds and ethnicities, who are working together for the upliftment of women in their society.
I was most pleasantly surprised to read her progressive ideas and way of thinking, considering the era in which she lived and published these works.
Warning: Mild spoilers ahead.
Padmarag refers to the central character of the novel, via whom Begum Rokeya gives readers a most unconventional ending of courtship, rejecting domesticity in favor of individualism.
Rokeya’s Padmarag is a woman who has gone through a series of misfortunes, and arrives at Tarini Bhavan (the welfare center / school) utterly heartbroken and dejected.
Her story arch then moves to the unfolding of her personality to a strong, hardworking, self-sacrificing woman who though very much in love, chooses not to accept the expected path of domesticity.
The novel also depicts the circumstances of women in those days via other characters working at Tarini Bhavan, most of whom have back stories of suffering, either in patriarchy or matrimony, and have left their pasts behind to dedicate their lives to others in need. It portrays the suffering of women in the era, as well as the struggles of women in power during those days.
It does an excellent job of championing education for women, and not just the rote system that is the norm in our country, but quality education that would help them be self-sufficient and not ‘wooden dolls’.
Where Sultana’s Dream is a cheerful, often hilarious satire in an imaginary world, Padmarag is a gritty, melodramatic & authentic work of literature that outlines issues women face even to this day.