Authors Biography
Jyotirmoyee Devi Sen
Jyotirmoyee Devi Sen was born in 1894, in the kingdomย of Jaipur, during the time of the British Raj in India. Herย grandfather, who had emigrated there from Bengal, rose toย the position of dewan, or prime minister, to the Maharaja ofย Jaipur. The lives of the queens and concubines in the royalย harems made a deep impression on her. She married Kiran Chandra Sen of Guptipara, Bengal, who passed awayย during the influenza pandemic of 1918. Returning with her children to herย parents home, she wrote under the pen name Jyotirmoyee Devi duringย her long widowhood. Jyotirmoyee Devi Sen is among the earlier womenย writers of modern Bengal, when most women were not allowed educationalย opportunities. She won the prestigious Rabindra Puraskar for Bengali writingย and her work is part of the Women's Studies curriculum at Jadavpurย University, Kolkata.