A Poet of the Fall

Begum Sufia Kamal

Begum Sufia Kamal (20 June 1911 – 20 November 1999) was an acclaimed Bangladeshi poet, and important figure in the Bengali nationalist movement of the 1950s and 60s. An important leader of the civil society movement of Bangladesh, Kamal is also hailed as an exemplary poet, a committed activist and feminist. We remember this influential personality on her 15th death anniversary.

Sufia Kamal born in Shaestabad, Barisal. She was a daughter of a Zamindar family.
As a child, she was not permitted to attend school as she was a girl. But she learnt Bangla, Hindi, English, Urdu, Arabic, Kurdish and Persian languages under the tutelage of house tutors.
In 1918, she went to Kolkata with her mother where she met Begum Rokeya.
She was first married at the age of 11 to her cousin Syed Nehal Hossain, then a law student. Together they had a daughter, Amena Kahar.
Hossain died in 1932. Five years later, Sufia married Kamaluddin Ahmed.
In addition to her first daughter, Sufia later had two other daughters, Sultana Kamal and Saida Kamal, and two sons Shahed Kamal and Sajed Kamal.

In 1925 she met Mahatma Gandhi, who inspired her to wear simple clothing.
Sufia Kamal's first poem, Bashanti (Of Spring), was published in Saogat magazine in 1926.
Her first book of poems Sanjher Maya was published in 1938.
It contained a foreword from Kazi Nazrul Islam and Rabindranath Tagore praised the collection as an exemplary work of literature.
Sanjher Maya was translated into Russian language in 1984.
In 1937 she published her first collection of short stories, Keyar Kanta (Thorns of the Keya Tree).

She became the first Bengali Muslim women to be a member of the Indian Women Federation in 1931.
During the Hindu-Muslim riots prior to the partition, Kamal tried to maintain and work for harmony between the two communities by joining the Peace Committee.
In 1948, when Purbo Pakistan Mohila Committee formed, she became its chairman.
Kamal's activism continued in 1952, with the Language Movement.
In 1961, when the Pakistani government banned Rabindra Sangeet, she became involved in the movement among Bengalis that ensued in 1961.
During the mass uprising in 1969, which demanded the resignation of General Ayub Khan, she promoted the cause by forming the Mohila Sangram Parishad (Women's Struggle Group).

During our liberation war she used to help the injured people by going to the hospitals with food and medicine for the injured people of war. The freedom fighters used to pick up medicines and food from her house as well delivered by Professor Ghyasuddin Ahmed and famous writer Shahidullah Kaiser.
She used to maintain close contact with the freedom fighters such as Abul Barak Alvi, Shafi Imam Rumi, Masud Sadek Chullu and Jewel, ignoring the risk of getting caught.
She worked closely with the women who were hurt in the Liberation War.