Swarnakumari Devi (1855 or 1856 – 1932), also known as Swarnakumari Tagore, Swarnakumari Ghosal, Svarṇakumārī Debī and Srimati Svarna Kumari Devi, was an Indian

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the ...

writer, editor, essayist, poet, novelist, playwright, composer, and social worker.

Biography

Swarnakumari was born as the tenth child to

Maharshi Debendranath Tagore Debendranath Tagore (15 May 1817 – 19 January 1905) was an Indian Hindu philosopher and religious reformer, active in the Brahmo Samaj (earlier called Bhramho Sabha) ("Society of Brahma", also translated as ''Society of God''). He joined Brah ...

and Sarada Devi into the

Tagore family The Tagore family (also spelled as ''Thakur''), with over three hundred years of history,Deb, Chitra, pp 64–65. has been one of the leading families of Calcutta, India, and is regarded as one of the key influencers during the Bengali Renaissa ...

of Jorasanko,

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

in 1855 or 1856. She was the elder sister of

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...

. Her short story ''Mutiny'' describes her experience being born just prior to the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857. Swarnakumari and her sisters did not attend school, but were tutored privately in Sanskrit and English and had the educational benefit of being raised in the Calcutta mansion that was home to the Tagore family. At age 13, she married Janakinath Ghosal, a deputy magistrate. Their children were Hiranmoyee Devi, Sir Jyotsnanath Ghosal and Sarala Devi Chaudhurani. In 1886, she established the first women's organization in Bengal, ''Sakhi-Samiti'', to help impoverished women. She also founded the Ladies' Theosophical Society in Calcutta. She participated in sessions of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

in 1889 and 1890. Swarnakumari and

Kadambini Ganguly Kadambini Bose Ganguly (18 July 1861 – 3 October 1923) was one of the first Indian female doctors who practised with a degree in modern medicine. She was the first Indian woman to practice medicine in India. Ganguly was the first woman to ga ...

were the first women delegates to the Indian National Congress.

Literary career

Swarnakumari was a writer and editor for the literary monthly ''Bharati'' for more than 30 years, after the journal was established by her older brother Dijendranath Tagore in 1877 or 1878. Her work in ''Bharati'' is considered to be among her major achievements. Swarnakumari is the author of 25 books and a wide range of essays. 17 of her 24 essays on science were published in the journal ''Bharati'' between 1880 and 1889, and she expanded the Bengali language by creating new scientific terminology, as well as by incorporating terms created by Rajendralal Mitra,

Madhusudan Gupta Pandit Madhusudan Gupta ( bn, মধুসূদন গুপ্ত) (1800 – 15 November 1856) was a Bengali Baidya translator and Ayurvedic practitioner who was also trained in Western medicine and is credited with having performed In ...

, Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and Bankim Chandra Chattopadh. Her science essays were written for lay readers, to help facilitate understanding of the concepts and to help promote science education. In 1882, a collection of her science essays, titled ''Prithivi'', was published. According to Anurupa Devi, "Many women had written poems and stories before her, but these were looked upon patronizingly. She was the first writer to show up the strengths of women's writing and raise women's creations to a position of respect." Swarnakumari achieved contemporary popularity as a novelist, but many of her works have not been reprinted. Her novel ''Dipnirban'' (The Snuffing Out of the Light) was first published anonymously in 1870, but it was eventually understood that the author was a "young Hindu lady", according to a notice in the ''

Hindu Patriot Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier fo ...

''. The '' Calcutta Review'' wrote, "We have no hesitation in pronouncing this book to be by far the best that has yet been written by a Bengali lady, and we should no more hesitate to call it one of the ablest in the whole literature of Bengal." In 1879, she published what is believed to be the first Opera written in Bengali, ''Basanta Utsav'' (Spring Festival). In her poem ''Likhitechi'' (Writing, Day and Night), she expresses frustration at the challenges related to establishing her own career as a writer. Swarnakumari also wrote more than three hundred songs.

Selected works

Novels * Dipnirban (The Snuffing Out of the Light), 1870 * Mibar Raj, 1877 * Chinna Mukul (A Picked Flower), 1879 * Mālati, 1881 * Hughlir Imam Badi 1887 * Vidroha (Revolt), 1890 * Snehalata ba Palita (tr. as: The Uprooted Vine), (two volumes) 1892 and 1893, Oxford University Press, 2004 * Phulermala (tr. as: The fatal Garland), 1894 * Kahake (To Whom?; tr. as: The Unfinished Song), 1898, Oxford University Press, 2008 * Bichitra, 1920 * Swapnabani, 1921 * Milanrati, 1925 * Phuler Mala Short stories * ''Short stories'', 1919 Plays * Koney Badal (Evening Dust Clouds / Time for Seeing the Bride), 1906 * Pak Chakra (Wheel of Fortune), 1911 * Rajkanya * Divyakamal

Honors and awards

She received the Jagattarini gold medal in 1927 from the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a public collegiate state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered one of best state research university all over India every year, C ...

and was the first woman to win this award. She was the president of the Vangiya Sahitya Sammelan (Vangiya literary conference) in 1929.

Death and legacy

She died in 1932 in Kolkata. She has been recognized by the Indian History Congress as one of the first women from

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

to achieve success as a writer and for her efforts to encourage scientific education, including among women.

References

''Citations'' ''Sources'' *

* Caṭṭopādhyāẏa, Mīnā. ''Svarṇakumārī Debī'', Anubhāba, Kalakātā, 2000. * Majumadāra, Samareśa. ''Svarṇakumārī Debīra galpa'', Ratnabalī: Prāptisthāna, Pustaka Bipaṇi, Kalakātā, 2004. * Ghose, Sudakshina. ''Swarnakumari Devi''. Translated into English by Tapati Chowdhurie,

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of, the Indian government. Its of ...