Sulekha Sanyal
Encyclopedia
Biography
She grew up in Korokdi, now in Faridpur BangladeshBangladesh
Bangladesh , officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh is a sovereign state located in South Asia. It is bordered by India on all sides except for a small border with Burma to the far southeast and by the Bay of Bengal to the south...
, in a decaying zamindar
Zamindar
A Zamindar or zemindar , was an aristocrat, typically hereditary, who held enormous tracts of land and ruled over and taxed the bhikaaris who lived on batavaslam. Over time, they took princely and royal titles such as Maharaja , Raja , Nawab , and Mirza , Chowdhury , among others...
family that had once been indigo
Indigo
Indigo is a color named after the purple dye derived from the plant Indigofera tinctoria and related species. The color is placed on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nm in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet...
planters, and was to become a member of the Communist Party of India
Communist Party of India
The Communist Party of India is a national political party in India. In the Indian communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Indian communist party was founded. The date maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26 December 1925...
. An early influence on her was the Brahmo
Brahmo Samaj
Brahmo Samaj is the societal component of the Brahmo religion which is mainly practiced today as the Adi Dharm after its eclipse in Bengal consequent to the exit of the Tattwabodini Sabha from its ranks in 1859. It was one of the most influential religious movements responsible for the making of...
philosopher and reformer, Ramtanu Lahiri
Ramtanu Lahiri
Ramtanu Lahiri was a Young Bengal leader, a renowned teacher and a social reformer. Peary Chand Mitra wrote about him, “There are few persons in whom the milk of kindness flows so abundantly...
, who was related to her mother. She was married, briefly and unsuccessfully, from 1948 to 1956.
Her chief work is Nabankur (The Seedling) 1956, translated by Gouranga P. Chattopadhyay and published by Stree in 2001. Its heroine, Chhobi, is a young girl from a rural zamindar family in Bengal of the 1930s, and the book follows her as she learns to fight injustice, protest against the privileges denied her but granted to her brothers, and the restrictions of the patriarchal
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
society around her. World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
breaks out, cutting short Chhobi’s education in the city. She returns to the village, gets involved with relief work and witnesses the Bengal Famine
Bengal famine
There have been a number of significant famines in the history of Bengal including:*Bengal famine of 1770*Bengal famine of 1943*Bangladesh famine of 1974*Bengal Famine , a movie by Bimal Roy...
of 1942.
Much of the story mirrors Sanyal’s own life, for she was born into a similar family, educated briefly in Chittagong
Chittagong
Chittagong ) is a city in southeastern Bangladesh and the capital of an eponymous district and division. Built on the banks of the Karnaphuli River, the city is home to Bangladesh's busiest seaport and has a population of over 4.5 million, making it the second largest city in the country.A trading...
, then got involved in politics during the Bengal Famine. Her first stories were accepted by the radical newspaper Jugantar
Jugantar
Jugantar or Yugantar was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence.This association, like Anushilan Samiti started in the guise of suburban fitness club. Several Jugantar members were arrested, hanged, or deported for life to the Cellular Jail in...
. Late in life she was awarded a degree in Bengali literature
Bengali literature
Bengali literature is literary works written in Bengali language particularly from Bangladesh and the Indian provinces of West Bengal and Tripura. The history of Bengali literature traces back hundreds of years while it is impossible to separate the literary trends of the two Bengals during the...
by The University of Burdwan
The University of Burdwan
The University of Burdwan is a public university located in Bardhaman, West Bengal, India...
.
Sulekha Sanyal also wrote a collection of short stories, Sindure Megh (Clouds Tinged with Red). Her Dewal Padma (Wallflowers) was published in 1964, after her early death from leukaemia.
Sources
- Women Writing in India: 600 BCE to the Present, edited by Susie Tharu and K. Lalitha, (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1993) ISBN 9780195631951
- Nabankur (The Seedling), translated by Gouranga P. Chattopadhyay, (Calcutta: Stree, 2001) ISBN 81-85604-30-4