Sufia Kamal

Begum Sufia Kamal
File:Begum Sufia KamalMM.jpg Begum Sufia Kamal in 1991
Born	(1911-06-20)June 20, 1911 Barisal, Bengal Presidency, British India (now in Bangladesh)
Died	November 20, 1999(1999-11-20) (aged 88) Dhaka, Bangladesh
Occupation(s)	poet, writer
Spouse(s)	Syed Nehal Hossain (1922-1932; widow) Kamaluddin Ahmed (1937-)
Children	Amena Kahar (daughter) Sultana Kamal (daughter) Saida Kamal (daughter) Shahed Kamal (son) Sajed Kamal (son)
Relatives	Aryan Akhlak (great grandson)
Awards	Bangla Academy Award (1962) Ekushey Padak (1976) Independence Day Award (1997)

Begum Sufia Kamal (Bengali: সুফিয়া কামাল; June 20, 1911 – November 20, 1999) was a Bangladeshi poet, freedom fighter, feminist and political activist. Kamal was an influential cultural icon in the Bengali nationalist movement of the 1950s and 60s and an important civil society leader in independent Bangladesh. She died in 1999 and was accorded a state funeral, the onle one accorded to a woman in the country's history.

Early life

Sufia was born in Shaestabad, Barisal. She was a daughter of a Zamindar family. During her childhood, women's education was prohibited and she could not afford to get academic education. But she learnt Bengali, Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Kurdish and Persian language from her house tutors. In 1918, she went to Kolkata with her mother where she came to meet with Begum Rokeya. She was first married at the age of 11 to her cousin Syed Nehal Hossain, then a law student. Together they had a daughter, Amena Kahar. Hossain died in 1932. Five years later, Sufia married Kamaluddin Ahmed.

In addition 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 across prominent South Asian personalities, such as Begum Rokeya, Kazi Nazrul Islam and Mahatma Gandhi.

Sufia Kamal's first poem, Bashanti (Of Spring), was published in Saogat magazine in 1926. In 1931 she became the first Bengali Muslim female to be the member of Indian Women Federation.

Literature

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

In 1937 she published her first collection of short stories, Keyar Kanta (Thorns of the Keya Tree).

Though she called herself a romantic poet, her work more and more reflected the struggles to preserve the Bengali language and culture and to fight Pakistani rulers.

Activism

In 1947, when "Shaptahik Begum" was first published, Sufia Kamal became its first editor. In October of that year after the partition of India she came to Dhaka. During a huge clash between Hindu and Muslim of that time Kamal worked for their friendship and joined in Peace Committee. In 1948, when Purbo Pakistan Mohila Committee formed, she became its chairman. 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 movement among Bengalis that ensued in 1961. During the mass uprising in 1969, which demanded the resignation of General Ayub Khan, she promoted the cause by forming Mohila Sangram Parishad (Women's Struggle Group). She was involved in the 1971 Liberation War and all later movements against dictatorial regimes. During Bangladesh's struggle for independence from Pakistan in the early 1970s she worked to help women hurt by the war. She also worked with an organization to try to bring to justice those Pakistani officials whom the Bangladeshis considered war criminals.

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 mainly a class issue. She was also the first Chairperson 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)

External links

• Ahmad Kabir (2012). "Kamal, Begum Sufia". In Sirajul Islam and Ahmed A. Jamal (ed.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.