Description

Born in 1908 in Noakhali District of East Bengal, in an upper class educated Muslim family, Shamsunnahar Mahmud spent her early life under the rigid purdah system. The word Shamsunnahar means the ‘sun of the day’. Thus like the rays of the sun Nahar tried to enlighten the social and educational environment of the Bengali Muslim women. The book provides interesting glimpses into the past and recounts the social and literary movement that brought about a gradual change by the entry of a lady whose courage and inspiration finally broke the shackles of superstition in the then Bengali Muslim society.

Dr. Sharmila Mitra is an Associate Professor of History and has been teaching since 1986 at Behala College Kolkata. She has completed her Graduation, Post-graduation and M.Phil. from University of Calcutta and Ph.D from Jahangirnagar University, Dhaka. Her major area of thrust is Gender Studies with specific focus on life and works of Bengali Muslim Women Writers (1900-1950). She has also published articles on Women and Violence, Women and Media, Gender Bias in Indian Society to name a few. She is also an ardent social worker devoting time to the orphans, under-privileged children.