social reform movements

Rassundari Devi's 'Amar Jiban' Challenged Patriarchal Society

Rassundari Devi (c. 1809–1890) was a 19th-century Bengali woman who wrote Amar Jiban (1876), the first autobiography by an Indian woman. Despite strict patriarchal restrictions against female literacy, she secretly taught herself to read, driven by a deep desire to read religious texts.