''Nabanoor'' was a monthly Bengali literary magazine published from

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

. It was a progressive magazine that encouraged contribution by both male and female authors.

History

''Nabanoor'' was a monthly magazine which started publication in 1903 in Kolkata,

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. The first editor of the magazine was Syed Emdad Ali. The magazine wanted to encourage literary traditions in the

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims ( bn, বাঙালি মুসলমান; ) are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising about two-thirds of the global Bengali population, they are the sec ...

community. Notable contributors to the magazine included

Qazi Imdadul Haq Qazi Imdadul Haq (1882–1926) was a Bengali writer. Teaching Haq joined the Calcutta Madrasa (now Aliah University) as a temporary teacher in 1904. In 1906, he worked briefly in the Education Department in Shillong, Assam. The next year he jo ...

. It continued to publish till December 1906 when it was closed down. The magazine wrote on issues affecting the Muslim community. It also included articles by Muslim women and

Bengali Hindus Bengali Hindus ( bn, বাঙ্গালী হিন্দু/বাঙালি হিন্দু, translit=Bāṅgālī Hindu/Bāṅāli Hindu) are an ethnoreligious population who make up the majority in the Indian states of West Benga ...

Begum Rokeya Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain") is the commonly used spelling of Rokeya's full married name, Rokeya herself is never seen to use her full married name in this English spelling. In much of her correspondence in English, she used just her initials: � ...

started her literary career by writing for this magazine. According to Leela Fernandes in the book ''Routledge Handbook of Gender in South Asia'', articles published in the ''Nabanoor'' showed a growing divide between the Muslim Bengali and Hindu Bengali community. The two communities accused each other of being against women empowerment. Begum Rokeya published a number of articles on women empowerment in the magazine. Her article Amader Oboniti (our downfall) in 1904 which described jewelry as symbols of enslavement. Her article drew widespread criticism of Muslim men and women.

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References

{{Reflist 1903 establishments in India 1906 disestablishments in India Bengali-language magazines Defunct literary magazines Defunct magazines published in India Literary magazines published in India Magazines established in 1903 Magazines disestablished in 1906 Monthly magazines published in India