Lady Abala Bose was born to Durga Mohan Das and Brahmamoyee Devi on 8th April, 1865.
If ill health and fate hadn't intervened, Lady Bose might just have been the first Bengali woman to become a doctor.
Abala Das married the scientist Jagadish Chandra Bose in the year 1887.
It was with her husband, that she travelled the world over prolifically and writing her travelogues targetted especially for young readers.
Most of her travelogues, written for children were published in
the periodical Mukul.
She says "Children in England and
other countries love to read travelogues. As a result, they develop a sense of adventure so that when they grow up they are ready to lay down their lives in the search for a new land".
She also blended history with other
Accounts of her travel , so that young readers could use these travelogues not only for leisurely read but also education. After all, travel does serve that purpose too.
Abala Bose visited various countries including Japan, England, America and also places such as Kashmir, Rajasthan , Madras etc.
She visited England , for the first time in 1896. They had travelled by the ship SS Caledonia from Bombay.
It is beyond the scope of a single twitter thread to discuss such a rich life. Outside of her travelogues there is so much she did for the society and for women's education. I would request all to read more about her in great detail.
Ending the thread with the following quote
"a woman, like a man, is, first of all, a mind, and only in the second place, physical and a body".
"নারীর শিক্ষাকে যেন ভাল পাত্র পাওয়ার উপলক্ষ হিসেবে ভাবা না হয়। প্রতিটি মেয়েরই উচিত গভীর এবং বিস্তৃতভাবে শিক্ষাকে আত্মস্থ করা। কারণ একজন পুরুষের মতোই নারীরও রয়েছে একটা মন, আগে তার চাহিদা পূরণ করতে হবে।"
Rajkumari Bannerjee, is credited with being the first Hindu woman from Bengal to cross the dreaded Kalapani and visit England with her husband Shashipada Bannerjee. If in case, that name sounds familiar, it would be because we have
discussed about him in brief on our second post and would do so again at the end of this thread.
Rajkumari Devi was born in the year 1847 and married to Shashipada Banerjee at the age of 13 in the year 1860. At the time of marriage she was illiterate, but under
Shashipada's tutelage she could read and write within a year of her marriage.
Shashipada had been excommunicated by his own family due to his sympathizing with the Brahmo Samaj and promoting both women's education and widow remarriage. It is mentioned that when the couple
In the previous thread we had done, we discussed the periodical Prabasi and it's founder Ramananda Chattopadhyay.
This thread is dedicated to his daughter, Shanta Chattopadhyay, who had published her travelogue in 14 issues of Prabashi.
Shanta Devi and her sister Sita were both accomplished authors, who had co authored several books.
Richly illustrated articles titled Japan Jatra and Japan Bhraman were published in Prabashi Magazine in 14 issues.
She had travelled there with her husband Kalidas Nag.
The couple had taken the Japanese Ship Anyo Maru from Alexandra dock, Bombay on the 9th of January, 1937.
Her visit lasted 28 days and whilst there she met many popular people such as Hani Motoko, who is considered to be Japan's first female journalist and popular educationist
Before we venture further into the topic, it would be prudent to provide a backdrop to the topic and discuss about the facilitators who gave a platform to these budding writing talents.
The three most influential periodicals which
provided these industrious women with a platform to express themselves would be Bamabodhini Patrika, Bharati Patrika and most importantly Antahpura Patrika which was an all women effort.
Antahpur Patrika (1898-1903)
The first editor of the magazine was Banalata Devi. After her short but eventful life came to an abrupt end in 1900 the mantle was taken over by Hemanta Kumari Devi and later on Kumudini Mitra of Mary Carpenter fame.
( Kindly check the alt text 👇)
A lot has been written on this forum regarding Bengal's fiery women freedom fighters, artistes and academics.
However, taking a slight diversion from our choice of subject, we would like to discuss more about Bengal's contribution in the field of travel culture and travel
writing, as was done by our Women.
In this series, the first woman traveller who we would like to talk about is Hariprobha Takeda.
Hariprobha Takeda is considered by many to be the first Bengali to set foot in Japan. In fact her book Bongomohilar Japanjatra was published
4 years before RN Tagore's Japan Jatri.
Hariprabha was born to Shashibushan Basu Mallik and Nagendrabala in the year 1890. The family was originally from Shantipur in Nadia.
Shashibhushan was the founder of Uddharashram, an orphanage in Dacca, which later came to be known