Ashapurna Devi received the prestigious Padma Shri Award and became the first woman Gyan Peeth Award recipient, even though she never went to school. Her paternal grandmother followed the patriarchal belief that girls belonged at home, not in classrooms. Private tutors were reserved solely for the boys, and none of the household’s daughters were permitted to attend school. So, Ashapurna Devi turned to books. Reading became her way of seeing and understanding the world. Her story is one of courage, showing that nothing can hold you back if you have the determination to succeed.
Ashapurna Devi’s journey of self-education and literary debut
Ashapurna Devi, born on January 8, 1909, was a renowned Indian novelist and poet from Bengal. In her autobiography, Ashapurna remembers her main childhood goal, which was learning to read and write the Bengali alphabet.
Coming from a joint family with a clear division between male and female children, only boys had the privilege of education. However, Ashapurna secretly educated herself by watching her brothers do their homework. When they were away, she would sneak their books, even though she was too young to hold them correctly and often had them upside down. Sadly, the elders didn’t help her but were merely amused by her struggle. Over time, she learned to hold the books right-side up and mastered the Bengali alphabet.
At the age of 13, Ashapurna secretly sent a poem titled “Bairer Dak” (The Outside Beckons) to Sihu Sathi, a Bengali children’s magazine. To her surprise, not only was the poem published, but the editor also requested more literary pieces from her.
Ashapurna Devi’s portrayal of women
In her stories, from short stories to novels, she shows how ordinary women, often seen as just homemakers, actually show bravery and strength in their daily lives. By telling their stories, Ashapurna reminds us that women’s lives are about more than just cooking and cleaning.
Her stories realistically narrate the struggles, quiet rebellion, and journey to self-awareness of ordinary women. There’s no sugar-coating, just plain reality. These women, often confined to kitchens, spent their days cooking for large families, hanging laundry, and preserving pickles and lentil dumplings in the sun. Their rare moments of leisure were full of needlework and gossip shared through domestic helpers and visitors.
Married off at ages as young as eight or nine, these women were expected to take on the role of wives and mothers while still children themselves. Their “outside world” was the terrace, where they stole glimpses of nature. This confinement to domestic roles and early marriage deprived them of a proper childhood and educational opportunities, perpetuating patriarchal control over their lives and futures.
Ashapurna Devi: The feminist writer of Bengal
Ashapurna Devi earned the moniker “kitchen writer” because she believed that all conflicts and revolutions originate within the household. A true feminist ahead of her time, she portrayed women’s struggles to balance tradition and modernity with freedom and individuality.
Throughout her life, Ashapurna wrote over thirty novels, poetry, ten volumes of collected works, and children’s fiction. Her magnum opus, the trilogy consisting of “Pratham Pratishruti” (1964), “Subarnolata” (1967), and “Bakul Katha” (1974), symbolises the struggle of women for equal rights.
Pratham Pratisruti
The first instalment of her trilogy, “The First Promise,” originally titled “Pratham Pratisruti” in Bengali, was published in 1964. Indira Chowdhury later translated it into English. This work went on to receive the prestigious National Jnanpith Award in 1977.
The novel pays homage to everyday Indian and Bengali women who courageously faced gender bias and the sexist mindset of quintessential middle-class families. It narrates the story of Satyabati, a brave young woman who taught herself to read and write. Perhaps this is Ashapurna Devi’s way of acknowledging her childhood efforts to learn independently.
In the preface to “The First Promise“, she wrote:
“History has invariably overlooked the dynamics of the domestic world. The society has often neglected this domain. This book is about an unknown woman who was among those who carved out the etchings of a promise from within those ignored interior spaces of Bengal.”
Subarnalata
In the second part of the trilogy, “Subarnalata,” the main character, Subarnalata, spends her life trying to become a writer. She is the mother of Bakul, the protagonist of “Bakul Katha,” the third and concluding book in the trilogy.
Married off at the tender age of nine, Subarnalata’s days were full of constant verbal abuse from her mother-in-law, physical abuse from her husband Kedarnath, and her yearning to break free from the four walls of her house. Her daughter Bokul, supportive brother-in-law Ambika, and an old letter from her mother urging her to live freely were her only support.
Bokul Katha by Ashapurna Devi
It’s from Bokul’s perspective. Her fiery grandmother and quiet mother have shaped her life, and Bokul is different from them in many ways. However, all three women are relevant to our present-day predicaments and struggles. That is because even after almost half a century, we experience what they experience. In Ashapurna’s own words, the three novels portray ‘petty day-to-day events’ (Tuchcho Doinondin Ghotonaprobah).
What makes these novels remarkable is how they vividly depict the challenges women face in everyday conversations and events. Her stories reveal the harsh reality where the society sees women merely as providers, cooks and child bearers. They lacked the right to speak and express opinions and were denied education, social respect, and even basic needs like rest. They were essential yet treated as a house help by their husbands and in-laws. Has it changed altogether? Not really.
Summing up the journey of Ashapurna Devi
In Pratham Pratisruti, Satya, the protagonist, leaves home and decides to live solo. That is because her 5-year-old daughter was married off against her wish. When we think of Satya, not much has changed for mothers. The fathers/male memebrs of the family take so many decisions unanimously for the betterment of their daughters. It ultimately clips the mother’s wings. But Satya could walk away, and many women can’t.
Ashapurna Devi’s heroine had given hope to millions of women and had dared to walk away and leave the safety of home to pursue a life of the unknown. The deceit and the interplay of sorrow leave us with a lump in our throats. The world of Satya, which she fought to build, falls apart when her daughter is taken away. Daughters are taken away every day from their mothers in myriad ways. Some are taken away before they are born. The mothers need to fight back or walk away. That’s why ‘Pratham Pratisruti’ is a fiction that needs to be read even today. So that the mothers learn and the daughters have it better.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are based on the writer’s insights, supported by data and resources available both online and offline, as applicable. Changeincontent.com is committed to promoting inclusivity across all forms of content, which we define broadly to include media, policies, law, and history—encompassing all elements that influence the lives of women and gender-queer individuals. Our goal is to promote understanding and advocate for comprehensive inclusivity.
