Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s Bengali work Padmarag (“Ruby”, first translated by Barnita Bagchi, 2005)is her only work of prose fiction long enough to be termed a novel. It was published by the author from 86A Lower Circular Road, Calcutta, in 1924. The book is dedicated to her brother Ibrahim Saber and it delineates a female-led utopia with educational and philanthropic emphasis. It complements Rokeya’s better-known utopian short story Sultana’s Dream (1905), a dream-vision of a female-led country in which science, technology, and female education go hand in hand to create a peaceful, pollution-free land in which men, in a satirical inversion, are confined to men’s quarters, the mardana. Padmarag describes a…
1857 words
Citation: Bagchi, Barnita. "Padmarag". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 August 2016 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=35790, accessed 31 October 2024.]