Swarnakumari Devi

Swarnakumari Devi (1855 or 1856 – 1932), also known as Swarnakumari Tagore, Swarnakumari Ghosal, Svarṇakumārī Debī and Srimati Svarna Kumari Devi, was an Indian Bengali writer, editor, essayist, poet, novelist, playwright, composer, and social worker. or 1856. Her work in Bharati is considered to be among her major achievements.

"Some of the terms she coined include 'upachchhaya' (penambra), 'parnitaru' (fern), 'mohishnu' (sensitive), 'balakhilya' (pigmy), 'tristar' (triambic), 'biswakash' (universe), 'suryabimba' (solarspot), 'abaraha' (hypnotism)" — Madhumati Mandal, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress (2005-2006) 17 of her 24 essays on science were published in the journal Bharati between 1880 and 1889,

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

Family tree