20 Facts About Nawab Faizunnesa

Nawab Begum Faizunnesa Choudhurani was Zamindar of Homnabad-Pashchimgaon Estate in present-day Comilla District, Bangladesh.

Nawab Faizunnesa is most famous for her campaign for female education and other social issues.

Nawab Faizunnesa embarked on establishing schools for women in that cultural context.

An advocate of female education, a philanthropist and social worker, Nawab Faizunnesa was born in Comilla in what is Bangladesh.

Nawab Faizunnesa was married to a distant cousin and neighbouring zamindar, Muhammad Gazi, in 1860 as his second wife only to be separated after mothering two daughters, Arshadunnesa and Badrunnesa.

Nawab Faizunnesa became a zamindar after her mother's death in 1883 and became increasingly involved in social and charitable work, and thus in 1889 earned the honour of being the first woman Nawab of British India.

Nawab Faizunnesa penned few other literary pieces such as Sangeet Saar, Sangeet Lahari and Tattwa O Jatiya Sangeet, and is renowned for her pioneering educational and charitable work and establishing of schools, madrasas and hospitals.

Begum Nawab Faizunnesa Chowdhurani was born in 1834 to an aristocratic Bengali Muslim family in the village of Pashchimgaon under Laksam in the Tipperah District of the Bengal Presidency.

Nawab Faizunnesa was the eldest daughter of Khan Bahadur Ahmed Ali Chowdhury, the Nawab of Homnabad-Pashchimgaon, and Arfannessa Chowdhurani Saheba.

Nawab Faizunnesa's mother was notable for constructing the Pashchimgaon Nawab Bari Mosque in 1864.

The Homnabad Nawab Faizunnesa dynasty was thus established, with the family settling in the village of Mahichal.

Nawab Faizunnesa was raised in a conservative Muslim family, where the women would maintain a strict purdah system.

Nawab Faizunnesa received no formal education but she educated herself in her library during leisure time.

Nawab Faizunnesa was proficient in Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit and Bengali language.

Nawab Faizunnesa became increasingly involved in social work after becoming zamindar.

Nawab Faizunnesa founded a school at Pashchimgaon that was later upgraded to a college and now named as Nawab Faizunnesa Degree College.

In 1893, Nawab Faizunnesa established a charitable dispensary in her village for women in purdah, particularly destitute women.

Nawab Faizunnesa built a hospital for women, Faizunnesa Zenana Hospital in Comilla.

Nawab Faizunnesa patronised different newspapers and periodicals, including Bandhab, Dhaka Prakash, Musalman Bandhu, Sudhakar, and Islam Pracharak.

Originally written in Bangla, Nawab Faizunnesa's Rupjajal was published from Dhaka in 1876.