A Brief Discussion on Rokeya Begum's 'Sultana's Dream' and Afra Shafiq's 'Sultana's Reality' With Feminist Readings.

Introduction : The blog is a response to the thinking activity assigned by Yesha Bhatt, and is related to the Digital Narrative genre. In this blog, I will be focusing on the three important points with reference to an interactive multimedia story 'Sultana's Reality' by Afrah Shafiq along with the feminist utopian fiction 'Sultana's Dream' written by by Begum Rokeya, also known as Rokeya Sahkawat Hossain, a Muslim feminist, writer and social reformer from Bengal in 1905.

1. The Concept of Andermehel - The Universe of Women.

2. Observation of Females and Their Connection with Books. (Colonial Education Movement.)

3. Comparison of Both Narratives.

Let us get the ball rolling...

1. The Concept of Andermehel - The Universe of Women.

Mughal Interiors from the book of Le Costume Historique c. 1876

》Before going further, let us see the meaning of the word 'Andermehel' : 

The word 'Andermehel' is of Turkish origin, mostly belonging to Ottoman empire. The word comprises of two words : 'Ander' meaning 'Inside' and 'Mehel' meaning 'Room' or 'a confined place'. The hindi script of the word is 'अंदरमहल' and another synonymous terms are 'Harem' and 'Zenankhana,' and in English language, 'Serail' and 'Seraglio.' These were the places where the royal women of Ottoman empire were kept aloof from the direct contact of outworld.The Oxford Dictionary of English Languge defines the word Seraglio as 'women's apartments (harem) in an Ottoman palace.' And 'a Turkish or Ottoman palace, especially the Sultan's court and government offices at Constantinople.' 

Much is told within definitions, but further details are needed to be given. The andermehe

ls were the confined places of limited pleasures for women whom Sultans - especially of the Ottoman empire - were owning as their wives. 

If we discuss the story-presentation 'Sultana's Reality' prepared by Afra Shafiq, we find the cutouts of women used by the presenter are of historical origins and taken from the paintings or related art-forms; this shows the natural urge of any woman from ancient to the modern time which was to create their own world and live into it without any interception of others, especially the men who ruled over their freedom. 

Here is a video which deals with the lifestyle of women who lived in Harem or seraglio in the middle ages :

2. Observation of Females and Their Connection with Books. (Colonial Education Movement.)

》In 'Sultana's Dream,' there comes a reference of women's education which critically puts the interest of the queen in the subject of Science : 

'Our good Queen liked science very much. She circulated an order that all the women in her country should be educated. Accordingly a number of girls' schools were founded and supported by the government. Education was spread far and wide among women. And early marriage also was stopped. No woman was to be allowed to marry before she was twenty-one. I must tell you that, before this change we had been kept in strict purdah.' 

Another important matter of women's contributions in the field of science and development is also taken into sight : 

'In the capital, where our Queen lives, there are two universities. One of these invented a wonderful balloon, to which they attached a number of pipes. By means of this captive balloon which they managed to keep afloat above the cloud-land, they could draw as much water from the atmosphere as they pleased. As the water was incessantly being drawn by the university people no cloud gathered and the ingenious Lady Principal stopped rain and storms thereby.' 

For the understanding of historical perspective of educational reformations in India which benefitted women especially, there is an informative webpage from which an excerpt is taken as following :

'The efforts made by various reformers with the help of Britishers started to show positive results when permission was given to the Christian missionaries to operate and impart education to both men and women after the Charter act 1813. The first school to be opened exclusively for girls was started by Robert May of London Missionary Society (LMS) in Bengal region of Chinsurah in 1818, after which various schools were opened for girls by various pioneers. Mary Ann Cooke was regarded as amongst the first missionary women to open a school under Church Missionary Society (CMS) in order to promote women education. They received the patronage of respectable Hindu men and were staffed by Brahmin pundits. The curriculum included reading, writing, spelling and needlework. The first boarding school which was opened for girls was with the initiative of CMS in Tirnuelveli in 1821. However, one thing to observe here was that even though initiative was taken by the missionaries, yet the number of enrolment in these schools did not reflect the attitude of the Indian towards women education. Girls belonging to respectable Hindu families were not sent to these schools for the fear of religion conversion. The girls who attended these schools were either Christian or belonged to the lower caste who did not got the opportunity to receive education in any of the indigenous schools and their education was ignored both the upper caste as well as by the government. There were various efforts on individual basis by people who opened schools for girls. The education of these girls belonging to the lower caste was taken into consideration by an eminent person Jyotiba Phule who realized the importance of their education and established school for them in Poona in 1851. But, a radical change came in the education of women after the establishment of Bethune School during the period of 1850s- 1920s. This also led to the increase in awareness amongst various scholars who realized the importance of women education, raised their voiced and demanded it (Basu, 2005, pp. 185- 188).'

3. Comparison of Both Narratives. 

》If we look at both the narratives, the digital one and the written one, we can draw a parallel to the point upon which the feminist spirit is set in the respective literary as well as digital materials. 

'Sultana's Dream' takes readers into the feminist utopian world whereas 'Sultana's Reality' urges readers to think over the causes which made Sultana had the dream wherein women had their own personal liberty without men's interception.

Conclusion : Exploring Feminism with the help of such narratives helps one to understand the concept gender roles in a given strata of societal affairs in which one is living.

Thank you!