'England-e Bangomohila'

Krishnobhabini Das was born in a well-to-do landlord family in a Bengal village in 1864. At the age of ten she was married to Debendranath, son of Srinath Das, a successful lawyer in the Calcutta High Court. Though Srinath had some progressive and reformist friends, including Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, he himself was orthodox and traditional. In 1876 Debendranath went to England to take the Indian Civil Service examination. Krishnobhabini, already mother of an infant and five-months pregnant, stayed back. During her husband's absence she lost her first child and gave birth to a daughter who was named Tillotoma. Debendrananth returned from England when his daughter was five. Srinath, however, refused to admit his bilet-pherot (literally'England returned') son to his household and asked his daughter-in-law to choose between husband and home. Krishnabhabini chose her husband, but she was forced to leave her daughter behind. 

About five months after his return to India, 1882, Debendranath decided to go back to England. But this time his wife went with him leaving behind Tilottoma with her paternal grandparents. Later in one of her poems Tilottoma writes: "Bindumatro chinta, koriley Ma mone,/Keho kotha nai, dhu dhu charidikey,/Mata-r onchol, dhoribarey jai,/Ma hoye giyaachh phelia bipakey.." While they were in England Srinath arranged the marriage of his nine year old granddaughter. Krishnobhani was greatly upset, but could not stop the wedding. Even when in 1890 she returned to India she wasn't allowed see her daughter. Tilottoma, meanwhile, had an unhappy marriage with a tyrannical and selfish husband. When she was in sick bed after  her only child's death Tilottoma's husband decided to marry again. Krishnobhabini tried to persuade her to leave her husband, but Tilottoma wouldn't listen. In one of her poems she writes: "Tui jema more, gorobhdarani/Kaemoni bolichho, o katha janani./...../Swami tyagiate, chirodin moto/kaemone gorob, kaar onugoto.../Aekmatro konnya, phelia sansare/Swami shoney gaeley, okul pathaarey..." 1909 Krishnobhabini lost both her husband and daughter in quick succession. After her husband's death she lived the austere life typical of an orthodox Hindu widow. In 1919 Krishnobhabini herself passed away.

At the time of her marriage Krishnobhabini was barely literate. However, she got a chance to educate herself after her marriage. Her teacher was her husband Debendranath who taught her to read, write and speak English. In this, she was more fortunate than Rashshundari Dasi (b.1809). When she was twenty five and mother of twelve children Rashsundari secretly taught herself to read and studied all the religious texts that her home possessed.  She finished her autobiography, 'Amaar Jibon', the first autobiography in Bengali, in 1868 four years after Krishnobhabini was born.

After her return from England Krishnobhabini joined the nationalist movement. She became the secretary of all Bengal Bharat Stree Mahamondol, an organisation founded by Sarala Devi Chaudhurani. She spent her time devising programmes for the social advancement of women and their education, but later, after she became a widow she concentrated more on raising funds for homes for widows, orphans and 'fallen women'. She wrote many articles on these issues and engaged in public debates in contemporary magazines like 'Bharati o Balak', 'Sahityo', 'Bamabodhini Patrika', 'Pradip' and 'Probashi'.

'England-e Bangamohila' is the first travel narrative by a woman in Bengali. Others like Toru Dutt, Gyanadashundari and Rajkumari Bandyopadhaya had been to England before her, but they left no account of their travel. 

She stayed in England for eight years spending most of her time in the British Museum Library and other libraries in London. In one of her first reactions to the new country she says, "If anybody asks me what differences did you see between India and England, my brief reply would be that England is free while India is subjugated." Elsewhere, she says, "...since I'm breathing English air and living with free people, I am developing new ideas." In one of her poems written before this trip she says, "Bohudin hotey hridoy-e amaar,/Goponey royechhey aek ashaalata,/Dekhibarey torey priya swadhinata,/Jaibo jey deshey bosoti uhaar..". It was a dream of seeing a free country.  In 1885, three years after she had settled in England 'England-e Bangamohila' was published in Calcutta. Thus Krishnabhabini broke two conventions. Though she was not the first Bengali woman to travel to England it was still a daring act, especially when, as Srinath's treatment of his son shows, even men were not permitted to travel overseas. Travelling, to her, was the first step towards her freedom. Secondly, she was the first woman travel writer in Bengali.  By asserting her own identity and raising her voice she seemed to establish that women were there not only to be seen, but also heard. In fact, both her travels and travel narratives were acts of defiance.

We need to remember that like many nineteenth century reformists, Krishnobhabini's India was Hindu India. The differences between Hindu India and England that struck her were, freedom/enslavement, modern education/ignorance and supersitition, empowerment of women/subjugation, strength/weakness, efficiency/lethargy etc.. These are the areas where India needed to be reformed. She was, however, also critical of England and its people. She lamented their greed for money, their selfishness and hypocrisy, their lack of family bonding and so on. However, her views on these issues were not radically different from those of other male travel writers of her time. Despite her acts of defiance she remained a reformist, all she wanted to do was to transplant some Western concepts of modernity into a traditional culture. Partha Chattopadhaya, in his brief introduction to this edition, points out that it perfectly represented the views and aspirations of the progressive, English educated, reformist, Bengali middle class  in the nineteenth century, a crucial and formative period in the history of modern Bengal. An opposition to aspects of Western culture as well as a reformist zeal incorporating certain Western practices along with a valorization of traditional Indian values inform these travel discourses. Partha Chattopadhaya and others see here the seeds of early nationalism.

However, on the issue of empowerment and education of women Krishnobhabini was far more articulate than her contemporary male or female writers.  Women's empowerment, she stressed, was only possible through education. The opportunities for education that women got in England surprised her. "Not only daughters of the wealthy, but also the daughters of the midddle class and lower middle class" got education in academic and vocational subjects. Education opened up opportunities for women which produced  authors, scientists, intellectuals. She also commented on the respectful and equal status that women enjoyed in family and society in England. The contrast with the her own country pained her.

Unsurprisingly, in Krishnobhabini's travel writings there is almost no mention of her personal and domestic life in England. There's no narration, only a description of what she had seen, admired or didn't like about England and its people. Her mission is obviously, to teach, not to entertain her readers. In the Prologue to her book she makes her intentions clear in no uncertain terms.

In an essay on Krishnobhabini and her book Nupur Chaudhuri, in 'Journal of Women's History', informs us that 'England-e Bangomohila' was banned by the British Government in India. The editor, of the volume that I have read, however, doesn't mention this.