Begum Sufia Kamal

Begum Sufia Kamal ( June 20, 1911 – November 20, 1999) was an well-known Bangladeshi feminist, poet, freedom fighter and activist. She was born to an elite Muslim relations of Barisal in southern Bangladesh. When she died in 1999, she was covered with full state honors, and was the first lady in Bangladesh to get this honor.

Sufia was born in Shaestabad, Barisal. She was a daughter of a Zamindar family. During her youth, women's education was prohibited and she could not afford to get educational schooling. But she learnt Bengali, Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Kurdish and Persian words from her house tutors.

 In 1918, she went to Kolkata with her mother where she came to meet with Begum Rokeya. She was first marital at the age of 11 to her cousin Syed Nehal Hossain, then a law student. jointly they had a daughter, Amena Kahar. Hossain died in 1932.

 Five years later, Sufia married Kamaluddin Ahmed.In adding to her first daughter, Sufia lated had two other daughters - Sultana Kamal and Saida Kamal and two sons - Shahed Kamal and Sajed Kamal.

She came from corner to corner famed South Asian personalities, such as Begum Rokeya, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Mahatma Gandhi.

Literature

A short story Shainik Bodhu which she wrote was published in a local paper in 1923. Her fabled job took off after her first poetry publication. Her first book of poems, Sanjher Maya (Evening Enchantment), came out in 1938, bearing a preface from Kazi Nazrul Islam and attracting admire from Rabindranath Tagore. Sanjher Maya was interpret into Russian language as Санжер Майя улу Суфия Камал in 1984.

In 1937 she in print her first compilation of short stories, Keyar Kanta (Thorns of the Keya Tree).

while she called herself a loving poet, her work more and more reflect the move violently to conserve the Bengali language and society and to fight Pakistani rulers.

Activism

In 1947, when "Shaptahik Begum" was first in print, Sufia Kamal become its primary editor. In October of that year behind the partition of India she came to Dhaka. During a massive clash among Hindu and Muslim of that time Kamal worked for their companionship and joined in Peace board. In 1948, when Purbo Pakistan Mohila Committee formed, she became its chairma Kamal's activism continued in 1952, with the Language Movement. In 1961, when the Pakistani government banned Rabindra Sangeet (Songs of Rabindranath), she became involved in the pressure group among Bengalis that ensued in 1961. During the mass revolt in 1969, which demanded the acceptance of General Ayub Khan, she promote the source by forming Mohila Sangram Parishad (Women's Struggle Group). She was caught up in the 1971 Liberation War and all later movements against tyrannical regimes. During Bangladesh's struggle for autonomy from Pakistan in the early 1970s she worked to help women hurt by the war. She also worked with an institute to try to bring to fairness those Pakistani officials whom the Bangladeshis careful war criminal.

In later life, she made women's rights her top priority and headed Bangladesh's largest women's organization, Mahila Parishad, for many years. She did not see the oppression of women as mostly a class matter. She was also the first president of BRAC (1972–1980).Kamal was also instrumental in getting the first women's dormitory of Dhaka University to be named Rokeya Hall, after Begum Rokeya.

Awards

• Bangla Academy Award for Literature (1962)
• Lenin Centenary Jubilee Medal (1970) from the Soviet Union
• Ekushey Padak (1976)
• Czechoslovakia Medal (1986)
• Jatyo Kabita Parishad Award (1995)
• Begum Rokeya Medal (1996)
• Deshbandhu CR Das Gold Medal (1996)
• Independence Day Award (1997)

Works

• Mrttikar Ghran (The Fragrance of Earth)
• Ekattarer Diary (Diary of '71)
• Benibinyas Samay To Ar Nei (No More Time for Braiding Your Hair)
• Ekale Amader Kal (In This Time, Our Time)

Categories:

• 1911 births
• 1999 deaths
• Bangladeshi poets
• Bangladeshi writers
• Bangladeshi women writers
• Bengali poets
• Feminist writers
• Recipients of the Ekushey Padak (Bangladesh)
• Recipients of the Independence Day Award (Bangladesh)
• Recipients of Bangla Academy Award
• Bangladeshi feminists
• Bangladeshi Muslims
• Islamic feminists