Nawab Faizunnessa Choudhurani

Fayeza Hasanat (University of Central Florida)

Ed. by Niaz Zaman, Independent University Bangladesh
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.2: Pakistani and Bangladeshi Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Sarker Hasan Al Zayed (Independent University Bangladesh), Pavan Kumar Malreddy (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège), Muneeza Shamsie (Independent Scholar - Asia), Niaz Zaman (Independent University Bangladesh)

Dates

Born 1834
Died 1903
Activity 1870-1903

Places

Born in East Bengal
Active in Bangladesh; India

Activities

Primary

Man/ Woman of Letters
Reformer
Ruler

Other

Philantropist
Revolutionary, Activist

Resources

Choudhurani's Works

Save to Bookshelf

Faizunnesa Choudhurani, or Chowdhury (later known as Nawab Faizunnesa), was a philanthropist, a pioneer feminist and social activist of Colonial Bengal, an advocate for Muslim women’s education, and a creative writer. She was awarded the title “Nawab” by Queen Victoria in 1889. Nawab Faizunnesa is possibly the first Bengali Muslim woman to write a creative piece, titled

Rupjalal

(1876). She is also known to have founded the first school for Muslim girls in Bengal in 1873, along with the first zenana hospital for women in 1893.

Faizunnesa was born in 1834, in the province of Tippera (or Tripura) in East Bengal. Her father, Ahmed Ali Chowdhury, was the zamindar of Homnabad-Pashchimgaon estate (in Laksham, Comilla). Ahmed Ali Chowdhury had an unusually liberal attitude toward women’s

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1655 words

Citation: Hasanat, Fayeza. "Nawab Faizunnessa Choudhurani". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 26 January 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14707, accessed 28 November 2024.]