Sultana's Dream and Padmarag [Paperback] Hossain, Rokeya Sakhawat

Begum Rokeya is a feminist even before feminism was formally introduced in India.A writer with scientific temper and empathy towards the opposite gender.Sultan's dream is a utopia which jas probably started becoming a reality at least at a very minuscule level. Men taking care of the household and women running the affairs outside. The author breaks strick gender roles and envisions a future where women are in charge. It is refreshing to see that the men in sultan's dream are actually enjoying their changed gender roles and are accepting it.Padmaraag is not only the story of women who are victims of patriarchy but it is also the story of men like, Latif Almas who looses his life to an unsuccessful marriage and then unrequited love to patriarchy. The feminism in the story transcends Religions and even geographical borders where there is a strong solidarity among women who work together to uplift themselves as well as other women in the society.

The quality of book is amazing , totally worth the price . I’d recommend it everybody .

'𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒖𝒔𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒅'𝒔 𝒉𝒐𝒎𝒆, 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒔. 𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒑𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒎𝒃𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒊𝒂 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔'- 'Padmarag' by Rokeya HossainHave you discovered any underrated writers in literature? If yes, recommend few underrated authors you discovered?!I was reading some research articles on South Asian works and found this gem, most of us have read/known about the brilliant 20th century feminist works by western authors, I've seen their works all over bookstagram, on the other hand, Rokeya Sakhawat Hossian, an important feminist writer in 20th century who talked about patriarchal households, feminist utopia, smashed the oppression and regressive practices in the 20th century is inconspicuous in the literature.'Sultana's Dream' and 'Padmarag' are the two powerful feminist novellas written in the 20th century.In the 21st century, while we're still struggling to make people understand how significant 'Women Education' is and persuading people in the rural areas to send their daughters to the schools, Rokeya has created an Utopia and reversed the dress codes, regressive customs in her novella 'Sultana's Dream'.'Sultana's Dream' will astonish the readers with the setting of a Kingdom where women's contributions in the scientific discoveries are appreciated and how they collectively smash the regressive religious beliefs.The second novella 'Padmarag' is an excellent refugee narrative, it unfolds the brahmo society in the Bengal in 20th century and revolves around the lives of women who are the victims of oppression in the marriage, ran away from the toxic family members, the 'Tarini Bhavan', a place where these women reside and help each other brings out their agonizing stories.The novella narrates the power of sisterhood and boldly delineates the evil practices in the society.Rokeya is an underrated feminist writer in the literature, I really want you all to check out her brilliant classic works!

It was a very interesting read given the (time and place) settings in which the two stories take place. Actually, Sultana's Dream ended up being rather surprisingly short whereas I wanted it to go a little while longer and a tad bit deeper into the world it manifested. Perhaps, that's what the author was going for. The author was very effectively able to render Sultana's feelings in the reader's mind (me) so as to keep me wanting more of that dream, similar to that of Sultana herself, given what the larger societal and cultural conditions at that time in the early 1900s entailed for Indian women who had to exist in an essentially atomized/isolated state of lifestyle.When it comes to the second one which is also the longer story, Padmarag, it indulged all the wants and desires that I have come to associate with an Agatha Christie novel. I know that's an weird description for a book written by a social-feminist of the early 1900s, regardless I am going to stick with it. Its cast of characters is warm, affectionate and empathetic despite all the terribly tragic and unfortunate events that transpired in all the principal characters' lives. In a nutshell, Padmarag was a very concise and satisfying read for the Agatha Christie fan in me, though other hardcore Queen of Crime fans shouldn't lean too hard on that description.

Über die bengalische Schriftstellerin, Pädagogin und Frauenrechtlerin Rokeeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932) existieren einige deutschsprachige Aufsätze. Ihre Erzählung "Sultanas Traum" (1905) wurde mehrfach vom Englischen ins Deutsche übersetzt. Ihren Roman "Padmarag" = "Der Rubin" (1924) gibt es auf Englisch nur in dieser vorliegenden Übersetzung von Barnita Bagchi aus dem Jahr 2005. Der Originaltext von Rokeya ist auf Bengali. Das Buch wurde in Indien gedruckt und von dort habe ich es über Amazon auch bekommen. (Vielen Dank)Rokeya erzählt in dem Roman "Padmarag" über die junge Frau Siddika, über deren Vergangenheit ein Geheimnis liegt, und die an die Mädchen- und Frauenschule kommt, welche von der Brahmanin Tarini geleitet wird. Das junge Mädchen scheint einer "besseren" Familie zu entstammen. Eines Tages findet Siddika zusammen mit anderen Frauen einen schwerverletzten jungen Mann, den sie in der Schule gesund pflegen. Latif scheint mit Siddika und ihrer Vergangenheit in besonderer Weise in Verbindung zu stehen. Bis aber die Wahrheit ans Licht komm,t gibt es einige Verwicklungen. Insbesondere werden die Geschichten von Siddikas Freundinnen erzählt: Unglückliche Ehen, Gewalterfahrungen, Intrigen sind an der Tagesordnung.. Die Unterdrückung und Rechtlosgkeit der Frauen - nicht nur in der muslimischen, sondern auch in der indischen Gesellschaft allgemein, werden sichtbar.Wer sich die Arbeit macht, "Padmarag" auf Englisch zu lesen, erfährt viel Hintergründiges über Rokeya, was über die auf Deutsch vorhandene Sekundärliteratur hinausgeht.

Sultana's dream was interesting. Padmarag was silly and it was hard to keep track of who was who and so on.