Sultana’s Dream By Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain

Sultana’s Dream, first published in 1905 in a Madras English newspaper, is a witty feminist utopia—a tale of reverse purdah that posits a world in which men are confined indoors and women have taken over the public sphere, ending a war nonviolently and restoring health and beauty to the world.

“The Secluded Ones” is a selection of short sketches, first published in Bengali newspapers, illuminating the cruel and comic realities of life in purdah.

Suggested for course use in:
History
Indian Literature
South Asian Studies
Utopian Fiction
Women’s Studies

Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain (1880 – 1932) was a Bengali Muslim writer and feminist activist who founded the first Muslim girls’ school in Calcutta in 1911.