Meet Begum Rokheya, Writer Of A Feminist SciFi Novel In The 1900s
By Vijayta Lalwani:
It is not often that one comes across science fiction written by women in the early 1900s, especially women from South Asia. Sultana’s Dream by Begum Rokheya Sakhawat Hossain was penned in 1905. Despite being published over a century ago, this story still resonates deeply in the world we live in today.
I stumbled across the book while hunting for women writers in the science fiction genre. The novella is about Sultana, who, in a dream, visits a utopian state called Ladyland, where gender roles are reversed. Essentially, Sultana is shocked to see men in this new world pushed into the ‘zenana’ (a part in a house where women are secluded), while the women roam freely in this highly civilised land. Contrary to the world she lives in, Sultana is further astounded when she finds out how the women in Ladyland overpowered the men. And no, it was not by physical force but by the power of their brains.
While exploring the land, the protagonist is guided by one Sister Sara. On their journey, Sultana is puzzled and highly inquisitive about the functioning of Ladyland, in a way she satiates the doubts any reader may have. How did they cook with solar heat? How did they stop incessant rains and storms with a balloon? How did they capture sun-heat in an instrument? And more interestingly, how did they get the men to enter the zenana and remain there? Sultana looks awestruck at the sophisticated technology and the efficiency with which the world in her dream functions. Through this, the author stresses on the importance of participation of women in scientific development and innovation.
Begum Rokheya is known as the pioneering feminist who advocated for equal rights and education, especially among Muslim women. While growing up, she was secretly taught Bengali and English by her brothers. Though English is not her first language, this book happens to be the author’s first published work in the same. Until her death in 1932, she worked tirelessly as an education reformist, starting a school in 1911 called Sakhawat Memorial Girls’ School in Kolkata, which is still running.
Her other short stories and essays are also reflective of a world she envisioned for all women folk. Padmarag, a short story, tells the tale of the lives in Tarini Bhaban, a safe haven for women across religion, caste and class, who have been widowed or abandoned by their families, husbands or in-laws. These women run the organisation together and economically empower themselves through education and skill training. As a staunch critic of the purdah and seclusion systems, Begum Rokheya also compiled around 50 reports and essays that documented the unjust conditions women were forced to live in.
Almost 10 years after Sultana’s Dream was published, another book, Herland by Charlotte P. Gilman, made its way to the science fiction circuit and became known as an important feminist classic. Herland revolves around three men who explore a destination that has been running without men for the last 2,000 years and is completely ruled by women. The inhabitants of this world prove themselves to be sustainable and efficient. They even inherit the gift of solo reproduction.
While the three men become increasingly embarrassed of the world they’re from, Herland proves itself to be truly modern and ideal since it is free of war, social order and authority. But however riveting the tale, this story is not without its flaws. Gilman, while propagating women’s rights, fills the narrative with anti-abortion and racist rhetoric.
More recently in popular culture, the first season of the animated series Rick and Morty had an episode where Rick, the mad scientist, and his granddaughter, Summer, are teleported to Gazorpazorp, a planet that’s ruled entirely by women. The episode seems to have taken its cues from Herland and Sultana’s Dream as the women in Gazorpazorp are living in their secluded, technologically advanced paradise while the males are excluded, thereby living like savages.
Among the other science fiction books I’ve read, Sultana’s Dream is different because it gives me hope for a better future. And this feeling comes because the book embraces technology and scientific advancement rather than looking at it as the basis of all death and destruction. This story has pushed me to go a step further and look for writers and books that envision a future that’s all inclusive and something to aspire to.
About the author: Vijayta Lalwani is a journalist based in Pune who loves reading SFF. Along with a friend, she recently started a zine called ‘Sleaze’, that covers themes of bodies, gender and sexuality.
