https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Sarasibala_BasuSarasibala Basu - Revision history2026-08-18T04:41:20ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sarasibala_Basu&diff=187988&oldid=prev>Rosiestep: remove header of empty section; add {{India-writer-stub}}2021-08-06T05:15:43Z<p>remove header of empty section; add {{India-writer-stub}}</p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Use Indian English|date=November 2014}}<br />
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{{Infobox person<br />
| name = Sarasibala Basu<br />
| image = Sarasibala Basu.jpg<br />
| alt =<br />
| caption = Picture of Sarasibala Basu: novelist, story teller, poet, women's rights activist, social activist<br />
| birth_name =<br />
| birth_date = 1886<!-- {{Birth date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD}} --><br />
| birth_place = [[Kolkata]], [[British India|India]]<br />
| death_date = 1929<!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) --><br />
| death_place =<br />
| nationality = [[Provinces of British India|British Indian]]<br />
| other_names =<br />
| known_for = [[Novelist]], [[Storytelling|Story teller]], [[Poet]]<br />
| occupation =<br />
}}<br />
'''Sarasibala Basu''' (1886–1929) was a [[novelist]], [[Storytelling|story teller]], [[poet]] from the [[Bengal]] region of the [[Indian subcontinent]]. She belonged to the generation of writers of the [[Bengali Renaissance]]. In her short lifespan, she had published more than twenty [[novel]]s, many [[Short story|short stories]] and [[poem]]s, and made a big impact on [[Bengali literature]]. An equal quantity of her writings had remained unpublished. Sarasibala wrote passionately about the social issues of that period and the world around her.<br />
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==Early life==<br />
Sarasibala Basu was born in [[Kolkata]] in 1886. Her childhood education began in a missionary school and thereafter she was admitted into another school, Mahakali Pathsala, in North Kolkata. After just one year, she was taken out of the school because of the [[Hindu]] prejudice of the time against women's education. At home she learned many things by listening to her brother's reading aloud his lessons. After her early marriage around the year 1900, she came to [[Giridih]] in [[Jharkhand]]. Her liberal minded husband, Phanindranath Basu, engaged a private tutor for her education at home. She also learned English and art from him.<br />
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==Career==<br />
With continuous encouragement from her husband she began to nurture her love of Bengali literature and [[social work]]. Her writings, novels and poems, were published in the prestigious periodicals of the day, including, ''Bharatbarsha'', ''[[Prabasi]]'', ''Manashi'', and ''Marmabani''. Though she never belonged to the ''[[Brahmo Samaj]]'', a [[social reform]] movement pioneered by the great [[Raja Rammohan Roy]], its influences are apparent in her writings. She was free from the many prejudices and blind notions of the stagnant Hindu society of her time. Social service and brotherhood of mankind were her most cherished ideals. She became a didi, an elder sister, to many rising stars of Bengali literature, including, Probodh Sanyal, [[Ashapurna Devi]], Narendra Deb, and Nirmal Baral.<br />
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==Personal life struggle and late life==<br />
Sarasibala had a difficult family life, with her husband's modest income she managed to raise her nine children, maintain a [[kitchen garden]], a [[mangrove]], a few [[cattle]] and do all the [[Homemaking|housework]], and as much social service to the needy as she could squeeze in. Besides, she could find time to write in the early hours of the morning when others in the house would be sleeping. In her later years, Sarasibala responded to [[Mahatma Gandhi]]'s call and worked for reform in the Hindu religion, particularly the rejection of the [[Caste system in India|caste system]] and a society free of caste prejudice. She lectured widely on the promotion of [[women's education]] and other [[social welfare]] activities. All these activities took toll on her health and she fell a victim to [[cancer]], and died in 1929.<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
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* [http://www.shiprapublications.com/servlet/spgetbiblio?bno=000189 Prabal], A Novel by Sarasibala Basu, Shipra Publications, {{Listed Invalid ISBN|81-7541-198-0}}.<br />
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[[Category:1886 births]]<br />
[[Category:1929 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:Bengali-language writers]]<br />
[[Category:Indian women novelists]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian novelists]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian women writers]]<br />
[[Category:Writers from Kolkata]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century Indian women writers]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century Indian novelists]]<br />
[[Category:Women writers from West Bengal]]<br />
[[Category:Novelists from West Bengal]]<br />
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