Freedom Fables: Satires and Political Writings

From Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880-1932), the writer of the feminist utopian fantasy ‘Sultana’s Dream’, come these tales of gumptious wit, describing the twists and turns of India’s two-hundred-year relationship with the imperial British.

Freedom Fables begins with the two eponymous fables, both compact in form but temporally vast. The first story ‘Muktiphal’ (translated in this volume as ‘The Freedom Tree’) traces the rise of and divisions within India’s Congress party. ‘Gyanphal’ or ‘The Tree of Knowledge’, the second fable, begins in the Garden of Eden and moves swiftly to an idealised Kanakadwipa where a trading company beguiles the prosperous country and proceeds to ruin it. Throughout both, the fantastic floats easily over mere facts. Adam and Eve, the Almighty, djinns, paris, demons, and Mayavi magicians: these classic characters play decisive, intriguing roles.

These major political satires are accompanied in this edition by six essays and two poems, which the intrepid Hossain wrote over a period of seventeen years. Interwoven through her writings are ideals that endure even today: education and emancipation for women, dignity for those living in the subcontinent, and freedom from colonial rule and influence.

“It was perhaps in the rancorous tumult of the breaking and making of nations that Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s word and vision was lost.”
— Rafia Zakaria, Dawn

“You can feel Hossain’s anger… and her scathing criticism of a system that allows what she saw as lazy, violent men to dominate while their gentler, wiser female counterparts are marginalized.”
— Tahmima Anam, NPR

““Hossain slyly pointed out back in 1905 what is often discussed now, particularly in the subcontinent—why should women be taught to stay safe, when men are not taught to not threaten or abuse or rape or be a danger to women?”
— Mahvesh Murad, Tor.com

ROKEYA SAKHAWAT HOSSAIN was a feminist activist and writer, as well as a visionary campaigner for women’s education. Born in 1880 in Rangpur (in what is contemporary Bangladesh), Hossain—also known as Begum Rokeya—wrote prolifically on issues of women’s liberation and against British colonial rule over India. Her ‘Sultana’s Dream’, written in 1905, is arguably the first work of feminist science fiction from Asia. Hossain founded the Muslim Women’s Association in 1916 to fight for women’s education and employment. She remained fiercely engaged in feminist debates and conferences until her death in 1932.

KALYANI DUTTA is an award-winning translator. Her translations from Bengali to English form a part of The Essential Tagore, published by Harvard University Press in 2011. She is also the co-author of Women, Education, and Politics: The Women’s Movement and Delhi’s Indraprastha College which brings together her twin interests, women’s studies and education.