Sultana Dreams🪙👑

Sultana's Dream turned into at first published in The Indian Ladies' Magazine, Madras, 1905, in English. This version is transcribed from Sultana's dream; and Padmarag: two feminist utopias with the aid of Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain; translated with an introduction by using Barnita Bagchi. New Delhi (India) : Penguin, 2005.

 

Sultana's Dream

One evening I turned into lounging in an clean chair in my bed room and thinking lazily of the circumstance of Indian womanhood. I am no longer positive whether I dozed off or not. But, as a ways as I don't forget, I was wide conscious. I noticed the moonlit sky glowing with thousands of diamond-like stars, very fantastically.

All on a unexpected a girl stood before me; how she got here in, I do no longer recognise. I took her for my buddy, Sister Sara.

'Good morning,' said Sister Sara. I smiled inwardly as I knew it turned into no longer morning, however starry night time. However, I replied to her, announcing, 'How do you do?'

'I am all right, thank you. Will you please come out and feature a look at our garden?'

I appeared once more on the moon via the open window, and thought there was no damage in going out at that time. The men-servants outdoor were speedy asleep simply then, and I should have a nice stroll with Sister Sara.

I used to have my walks with Sister Sara, while we had been at Darjeeling. Many a time did we walk hand in hand and communicate mild-heartedly in the botanical gardens there. I fancied, Sister Sara had probable come to take me to a few such lawn and I quite simply common her offer and went out with her.

When taking walks I found to my marvel that it turned into a excellent morning. The metropolis turned into absolutely wakeful and the streets alive with bustling crowds. I became feeling very shy, thinking I changed into strolling in the street in large daylight hours, however there has been not a unmarried man visible.

Some of the passers-by way of made jokes at me. Though I could not apprehend their language, but I felt certain they had been joking. I requested my pal, 'What do they say?'

'The ladies say which you appearance very mannish.'

'Mannish?' said I, 'What do they imply by using that?'

'They mean which you are shy and timid like guys.'Shy and timid like guys?' It become truly a joke. I became very anxious, once I determined that my partner become not Sister Sara, however a stranger. Oh, what a fool had I been to mistake this lady for my dear vintage friend, Sister Sara.

She felt my arms tremble in her hand, as we had been on foot hand in hand.

'What is the matter, pricey?' she said affectionately. 'I experience particularly awkward,' I said in a as a substitute apologizing tone, 'as being a purdahnishin woman I am now not accustomed to strolling approximately unveiled.'

'You need no longer be terrified of coming across a man right here. This is Ladyland, loose from sin and harm. Virtue herself reigns here.'

By and through I turned into taking part in the surroundings. Really it became very grand. I mistook a patch of inexperienced grass for a velvet cushion. Feeling as though I had been strolling on a soft carpet, I appeared down and determined the path protected with moss and plants.

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'How great it's far,' stated I.

'Do you want it?' asked Sister Sara. (I endured calling her 'Sister Sara,' and she kept calling me by my call).

'Yes, very a good deal; but I do now not like to tread on the smooth and candy flora.'

'Never mind, dear Sultana; your treading will not damage them; they're street plants.'

'The complete area looks like a lawn,' stated I admiringly. 'You have arranged each plant so skillfully.'

'Your Calcutta could turn out to be a nicer lawn than this if simplest your countrymen desired to make it so.'

'They could think it useless to provide so much attention to horticulture, while they have so many other activities.'

'They could not discover a higher excuse,' said she with smile.

I have become very curious to recognize in which the men have been. I met more than a hundred girls even as taking walks there, however now not a single guy.

'Where are the men?' I asked her.

'In their proper locations, wherein they have to be.'

Pray permit me realize what you imply by "their right places".'

'O, I see my mistake, you can't recognize our customs, as you were in no way right here earlier than. We close our guys interior.'

'Just as we're kept in the zenana?'

'Exactly so.'

'How funny,' I burst into amusing. Sister Sara laughed too.

'But expensive Sultana, how unfair it's miles to shut within the innocent girls and set free the guys.'

'Why? It isn't safe for us to pop out of the zenana, as we're clearly weak.'

'Yes, it isn't always secure so long as there are men about the streets, neither is it so whilst a wild animal enters a market.'

'Of route not.'

'Suppose, some lunatics break out from the asylum and begin to do all sorts of mischief to men, horses and different creatures; in that case what's going to your countrymen do?'

'They will try and seize them and placed them returned into their asylum.'

'Thank you! And you do not think it sensible to maintain sane people inner an asylum and set free the insane?'

'Of direction no longer!' stated I laughing gently.

'As a matter of reality, to your us of a this very issue is finished! Men, who do or as a minimum are able to doing no give up of mischief, are set free and the innocent ladies, shut up within the zenana! How can you consider the ones untrained men out of doors?'

'We have no hand or voice in the control of our social affairs. In India man is lord and grasp, he has taken to himself all powers and privileges and shut up the girls in the zenana.'

'Why do you allow yourselves to be shut up?'

'Because it can't be helped as they are more potent than ladies.'

'A lion is more potent than a person, but it does not permit him to dominate the human race. You have ignored the duty you owe to yourselves and you've misplaced your herbal rights by shutting your eyes on your own pursuits.'

'But my pricey Sister Sara, if we do the whole lot through ourselves, what is going to the guys do then?'

'They have to no longer do something, excuse me; they may be suit for not anything. Only trap them and placed them into the zenana.'

'But would it be very easy to capture and positioned them in the 4 partitions?' stated I. 'And even if this were performed, could all their enterprise – political and industrial – also go together with them into the zenana?'

Sister Sara made no respond. She handiest smiled sweetly. Perhaps she concept it useless to argue with person who became no higher than a frog in a nicely.

By this time we reached Sister Sara's house. It turned into located in a stunning heart-formed lawn. It turned into a bungalow with a corrugated iron roof. It became cooler and nicer than any of our rich buildings. I can not describe how neat and how properly furnished and how tastefully embellished it turned into.

We sat facet by means of facet. She brought out of the parlour a bit of embroidery paintings and commenced setting on a sparkling design.

'Do you know knitting and needle paintings?'

'Yes; we have not anything else to do in our zenana.'

'But we do now not agree with our zenana individuals with embroidery!' she said giggling, 'as a person has now not persistence sufficient to bypass thread thru a needlehole even!'

'Have you achieved all this work your self?' I requested her pointing to the numerous pieces of embroidered teapoy cloths.

'Yes.'

'How can you discover time to do a majority of these? You ought to do the office paintings as properly? Have you not?'

'Yes. I do no longer keep on with the laboratory all day lengthy. I finish my paintings in two hours.'

'In  hours! How do you manage? In our land the officers, – magistrates, as an instance – paintings seven hours day by day.'

'I actually have visible a number of them doing their paintings. Do you observed they paintings all the seven hours?'

'Certainly they do!'

No, pricey Sultana, they do no longer. They dawdle away their time in smoking. Some smoke  or three choroots at some stage in the workplace time. They communicate plenty about their paintings, but do little. Suppose one choroot takes half an hour to burn off, and a person smokes twelve choroots every day; then you see, he wastes six hours every day in sheer smoking.'

We talked on various topics, and I learned that they were not subject to any kind of epidemic disease, nor did they be afflicted by mosquito bites as we do. I changed into very plenty astonished to pay attention that in Ladyland nobody died in adolescents except by way of uncommon accident.

'Will you care to see our kitchen?' she asked me.

'With delight,' stated I, and we went to peer it. Of path the guys had been asked to clear off when I turned into going there. The kitchen turned into located in a stunning vegetable lawn. Every creeper, every tomato plant was itself an ornament. I observed no smoke, nor any chimney either within the kitchen -- it changed into easy and shiny; the windows had been decorated with flower gardens. There was no sign of coal or fire.

'How do you prepare dinner?' I asked.

'With sun heat,' she stated, at the identical time showing me the pipe, thru which passed the concentrated daylight and warmth. And she cooked some thing then and there to show me the procedure.

'How did you manipulate to accumulate and keep up the sun-warmth?' I requested her in amazement.

'Let me tell you a little of our beyond records then. Thirty years ago, while our present Queen become 13 years vintage, she inherited the throne. She turned into Queen in call simplest, the Prime Minister virtually ruling the us of a.

'Our true Queen liked technology very much. She circulated an order that all the girls in her country need to be educated. Accordingly some of girls' schools had been based and supported through the authorities. Education was unfold far and huge among ladies. And early marriage also was stopped. No woman changed into to be allowed to marry earlier than she changed into twenty-one. I need to inform you that, earlier than this alteration we have been stored in strict purdah.'

'How the tables are turned,' I interposed with a laugh.

But the seclusion is the identical,' she stated. 'In some years we had separate universities, in which no guys were admitted.'

'In the capital, wherein our Queen lives, there are  universities. One of those invented a high-quality balloon, to which they attached a number of pipes. By method of this captive balloon which they managed to maintain afloat above the cloud-land, they could draw as plenty water from the environment as they thrilled. As the water become incessantly being drawn by using the college people no cloud accumulated and the innovative Lady Principal stopped rain and storms thereby.'

'Really! Now I understand why there's no dust here!' stated I. But I could not understand how it was feasible to accumulate water within the pipes. She explained to me how it become accomplished, but I changed into unable to apprehend her, as my scientific expertise turned into very constrained. However, she went on, 'When the opposite college got here to realize of this, they have become relatively jealous and attempted to do something greater first rate nonetheless. They invented an tool through which they may acquire as an awful lot solar-warmth as they wanted. And they kept the heat saved as much as be distributed among others as required.

'While the ladies have been engaged in clinical research, the men of this united states of america were busy increasing their army electricity. When they got here to recognize that the girl universities had been capable of draw water from the atmosphere and gather warmth from the sun, they most effective laughed at the individuals of the universities and referred to as the whole lot "a sentimental nightmare"!'

'Your achievements are very exquisite certainly! But tell me, the way you managed to put the guys of your united states into the zenana. Did you entrap them first?'

'No.'

'It isn't always possibly that they might surrender their loose and outside existence of their own accord and confine themselves within the four partitions of the zenana! They ought to had been overpowered.'

'Yes, they were!'

'By whom? By some woman-warriors, I suppose?'

'No, now not through arms.'

'Yes, it cannot be so. Men's palms are more potent than girls's. Then?'

'By mind.'

Even their brains are larger and heavier than girls's. Are they no longer?'

'Yes, but what of that? An elephant also has got a bigger and heavier brain than a man has. Yet guy can enchain elephants and hire them, according to their personal desires.'

'Well stated, but tell me please, the way it all truely happened. I am dying to comprehend it!'

'Women's brains are fairly faster than men's. Ten years ago, whilst the navy officers referred to as our scientific discoveries "a sentimental nightmare," a number of the younger ladies wanted to mention some thing in respond to the ones remarks. But both the Lady Principals constrained them and said, they need to respond now not by using phrase, however by way of deed, if ever they were given the opportunity. And they had no longer long to anticipate that possibility.'

'How dazzling!' I heartily clapped my fingers. 'And now the proud gentlemen are dreaming sentimental dreams themselves.'

'Soon afterwards sure individuals came from a neighbouring country and took refuge in ours. They have been in hassle having dedicated some political offense. The king who cared greater for power than for proper authorities requested our type-hearted Queen to hand them over to his officials. She refused, as it turned into towards her principle to turn out refugees. For this refusal the king declared conflict in opposition to our u . S . A ..

'Our army officials sprang to their ft without delay and marched out to meet the enemy. The enemy but, changed into too sturdy for them. Our squaddies fought bravely, no doubt. But in spite of all their bravery the overseas military superior step by step to invade our usa.

'Nearly all of the men had long past out to fight; even a boy of 16 changed into not left domestic. Most of our warriors were killed, the rest driven lower back and the enemy got here within twenty-5 miles of the capital.

'A meeting of a number of clever girls became held at the Queen's palace to endorse as to what need to be carried out to keep the land. Some proposed to fight like squaddies; others objected and stated that ladies had been no longer trained to combat with swords and weapons, nor have been they acquainted with fighting with any guns. A 0.33 party regretfully remarked that they had been hopelessly vulnerable of frame.

'"If you can't store your us of a for loss of physical electricity," stated the Queen, "attempt to achieve this by way of brain electricity."

There changed into a dead silence for a few minutes. Her Royal Highness said once more, "I have to devote suicide if the land and my honour are lost."

'Then the Lady Principal of the second college (who had accumulated sun-warmness), who were silently wondering throughout the consultation, remarked that they had been all however misplaced, and there was little wish left for them. There become, however, one plan which she would really like to attempt, and this would be her first and remaining efforts; if she failed on this, there might be nothing left however to commit suicide. All present solemnly vowed that they could in no way permit themselves to be enslaved, no matter what occurred.

'The Queen thanked them heartily, and requested the Lady Principal to attempt her plan. The Lady Principal rose again and stated, "earlier than we go out the men have to enter the zenanas. I make this prayer for the sake of purdah." "Yes, of path," responded Her Royal Highness.

'On the next day the Queen referred to as upon all guys to retire into zenanas for the sake of honour and liberty. Wounded and worn-out as they had been, they took that order rather for a boon! They bowed low and entered the zenanas with out uttering a single word of protest. They have been positive that there was no wish for this united states of america at all.

'Then the Lady Principal along with her  thousand college students marched to the conflict area, and arriving there directed all the rays of the focused daylight and heat closer to the enemy.

The warmness and light were an excessive amount of for them to endure. They all ran away panic-afflicted, now not knowing in their bewilderment the way to counteract that scorching warmness. When they fled away leaving their guns and other ammunitions of conflict, they have been burnt down by means of the identical solar-heat. Since then nobody has attempted to invade our us of a any greater.'

'And on account that then your countrymen in no way attempted to come out of the zenana?'

'Yes, they wanted to be free. Some of the police commissioners and district magistrates despatched word to the Queen to the impact that the navy officials honestly deserved to be imprisoned for his or her failure; but they never ignored their responsibility and therefore they have to no longer be punished and that they prayed to be restored to their respective workplaces.

'Her Royal Highness sent them a circular letter intimating to them that if their services must ever be needed they could be despatched for, and that inside the in the meantime they ought to stay wherein they had been. Now that they may be conversant in the purdah machine and have ceased to grouse at their seclusion, we name the machine "Mardana" in place of "zenana".'

'But how do you manage,' I asked Sister Sara, 'to do without the police or magistrates in case of theft or homicide?'

'Since the "Mardana" gadget has been established, there has been no extra crime or sin; therefore we do no longer require a policeman to find out a culprit, nor can we need a magistrate to attempt a criminal case.'

'That is excellent, certainly. I think if there was any cheating individual, you could very effortlessly chastise her. As you won a decisive victory without dropping a single drop of blood, you could power off crime and criminals too with out plenty difficulty!'

'Now, pricey Sultana, will you sit right here or come to my parlour?' she asked me.

'Your kitchen isn't inferior to a queen's boudoir!' I replied with a nice smile, 'however we have to leave it now; for the gents can be cursing me for keeping them far from their duties in the kitchen goodbye.' We each laughed heartily.

'How my friends at home might be amused and amazed, after I pass lower back and inform them that in the far-off Ladyland, women rule over the united states of america and manipulate all social matters, at the same time as gents are kept inside the Mardanas to mind toddlers, to cook and to do all types of domestic work; and that cooking is so easy a issue that it's far certainly a pride to cook

!'Yes, tell them about all that you see here.'

'Please permit me recognize, how you keep on land cultivation and the way you plough the land and do other tough guide work.'

'Our fields are tilled by using electricity, which elements reason electricity for other difficult work as well, and we employ it for our aerial conveyances too. We have no rail road nor any paved streets right here.'

'Therefore neither avenue nor railway accidents arise here,' stated I. 'Do not you ever suffer from want of rainwater?' I requested.

'Never since the "water balloon" has been installation. You see the large balloon and pipes connected thereto. By their useful resource we are able to draw as much rainwater as we require. Nor will we ever suffer from flood or thunderstorms. We are all very busy making nature yield as a lot as she will. We do not locate time to quarrel with each other as we by no means sit idle. Our noble Queen is tremendously keen on botany; it is her ambition to convert the complete us of a into one grand lawn.'

'The concept is tremendous. What is your leader food?'

'Fruits.'

'How do you hold your united states of america cool in hot weather? We regard the rainfall in summer time as a blessing from heaven.'

'When the warmth will become insufferable, we sprinkle the ground with considerable showers drawn from the artificial fountains. And in cold weather we maintain our room heat with sun-warmness.'

She showed me her toilet, the roof of which become removable. She may want to revel in a shower bathtub whenever she appreciated, by means of in reality putting off the roof (which changed into just like the lid of a box) and turning on the faucet of the shower pipe.

'You are a fortunate people!' ejaculated I. 'You know no need. What is your religion, may also I ask?'

'Our faith is based totally on Love and Truth. It is our religious obligation to love one another and to be certainly straightforward. If any individual lies, he or she is....'

No, now not with death. We do now not take delight in killing a creature of God, mainly a human being. The liar is asked to depart this land for properly and in no way to come back to it once more.'

'Is an perpetrator in no way forgiven?'

'Yes, if that individual repents really.'

'Are you not allowed to see any man, besides your very own family members?'

'No one besides sacred members of the family.'

'Our circle of sacred family members is very confined; even first cousins are not sacred.'

'But ours could be very large; a distant cousin is as sacred as a brother.'

'That is very good. I see purity itself reigns over your land. I must like to see the best Queen, who is so sagacious and some distance-sighted and who has made these kinds of regulations.'

'All right,' said Sister Sara.

Then she screwed multiple seats onto a rectangular piece of plank. To this plank she connected two clean and nicely-polished balls. When I asked her what the balls have been for, she said they have been hydrogen balls and they were used to conquer the force of gravity. The balls were of various capacities for use in line with the distinctive weights desired to be overcome. She then mounted to the air-car two wing-like blades, which, she stated, have been labored by using electricity. After we have been quite simply seated she touched a knob and the blades started out to whirl, shifting quicker and faster every second. At first we have been raised to the peak of about six or seven toes after which off we flew. And before I ought to recognize that we had commenced transferring, we reached the garden of the Queen.

'Punished with loss of life?'

My buddy reduced the air-automobile by using reversing the action of the system, and while the automobile touched the ground the system changed into stopped and we were given out.

I had seen from the air-automobile the Queen strolling on a garden direction together with her little daughter (who become 4 years antique) and her maids of honour.

'Halloo! You here!' cried the Queen addressing Sister Sara. I changed into delivered to Her Royal Highness and become obtained with the aid of her cordially without any ceremony.

I was very an awful lot extremely joyful to make her acquaintance. In the direction of the conversation I had along with her, the Queen instructed me that she had no objection to permitting her topics to trade with other nations. 'But,' she endured, 'no alternate was viable with countries where the ladies were stored in the zenanas and so not able to come and trade with us. Men, we discover, are rather of decrease morals and so we do not like handling them. We do not covet other human beings's land, we do not fight for a chunk of diamond although it may be 1000-fold brighter than the Koh-i-Noor, nor will we grudge a ruler his Peacock Throne. We dive deep into the ocean of knowledge and try and discover the treasured gemstones, which nature has stored in shop for us. We revel in nature's items as a great deal as we can.'

After taking depart of the Queen, I visited the well-known universities, and was proven some of their manufactories, laboratories and observatories.

After touring the above places of hobby we got again into the air-vehicle, however as quickly as it commenced moving, I by some means slipped down and the autumn startled me out of my dream. And on starting my eyes, I determined myself in my very own bedroom nevertheless lounging in the smooth-chair!

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