Religion in Begum Rokeya’s Literature: Resemblance with the Marxist Narrative

Abstract

Against the dark background of the social exclusion of women, especially Muslim women, Begum Rokeya, the pioneer of women’s emancipation in Bengal, British India in the early 20^th century, stood with her enlightenment like a beacon and pushed her way for women’s emancipation from the depths of misery. She lived in a society shrouded by blind religious beliefs and practices where women were deprived of rights and freedom, and were repressed and oppressed in the name of religion. Despite her prevailing leanings toward religious beliefs and practices, she found that a powerful obstacle to women’s freedom stemmed from the misinterpretation of culturally biased religious norms, notions and intentions. She was a strong advocate for the emancipation of the society and especially women of her time. She eloquently expressed her opinion with regard to religious rituals, prevailing sentiments and general public psyche in practice that hindered the progress and emancipation of women as well as the society. Her opinions, propositions, criticisms, and activisms in this regard surprisingly resembled to a great extent that of the predominant Marxist views. In this article, her views and opinions on the dissemination and practice of religious teachings and rituals in the context of the marginalization of women as well as society have been examined and compared with that of the Marxist thoughts, especially those on religion through textual analysis and Marxist allusions.