Homage to War heroine, Bangladeshi Sculptor Ferdousi Priyabhashini - Inspiration of Women's Courage and Hope. Happy woman's day!

Freedom fighter Ferdousi Priyabhashini remade her life and inspired many more. She was the first one to publicly announce herself as Birangana - Woman of War.

In 2000, at the Tokyo Tribunal, a people’s tribunal organized by Asian women and human rights organizations, she explained why she decided to speak up:

 “I saw that the history of the liberation war was being altered and the torture of women was being forgotten, and I decided I will speak up. If I speak of my experiences, a space will open up, women will learn how to fight." - Priyabhashini

Ferdousi Priyabhashini was a Bangladeshi sculptor. Fifty years ago in the winter month of December 1971, 23-year-old woman was freed from the clutches of her Pakistani captors, the rape survivors after the 1971 independence war ended, a curtain of silence had fallen over the topic. One of the first women to go public about her experience of being raped during the 1971 independence war and who spoke out for thousands of victims of wartime sexual violence. She was working at a jute mill, Khulna to support her mother, siblings and her three children, when the war broke out and she was taken captive by Pakistani forces, when Bangladesh was then known as East Pakistan. In Priyabhashini’s case, she was gang-raped on a daily basis for more than seven months, according to her autobiography.

“This is my life now, I cannot change it. I should try to stay positive. I stopped weeping," she told, remembering those profoundly painful months

“I cannot tell you more. I cannot explain it to you. What happened to me was in a small part of one city. You have to multiply this across 65 districts. I wasn’t alone; there were many more women like me."

 

Anywhere in the world, it takes a considerable amount of bravery for a woman to say in public that she has been sexually assaulted, but it is all the more courageous to do so in a deeply conservative society emerging from a liberation war, political upheavals, and amidst growing religious fundamentalism.

 

Ferdousi Priyabhashini, survived rape by Pakistani armed forces and led a campaign to highlight what many Bangladeshi women experienced during the liberation war. Many armies have used rape as a weapon of war, and many Bangladeshi women were abused, many of them multiple times. 

Over the years, some tried to challenge her account. Why had she not tried to escape, they wanted to know.

“I don’t owe anyone an explnation. You cannot leaave your fate. I had nowhere to go. I had no money. My family had disowned me. I had nobody I could trust", Priyabhashini.

 Sculptor Priyabhashini and her art career :

She rebuilt her life. She led her life through a valiant way amid various obstacles. Ferdous Priyabhashini was a brave woman, a spirited soul, a real progressive and an eminent Bangladeshi sculptor. She began her career as a sculptor in the mid-1980s. Since 1991, her sculptures were featured in at least 16 exhibits.

Priyabhashini later became a sculptor. Since 1990, she has exhibited her works through exhibitions. Her first exhibition was jointly inaugurated by artist SM Sultan and poet Sufia Kamal, and anchored by Syed Shamsul Haque.

With Painter Shahbuddin Ahmed

With artist SM Sultan

The 2015 play Jamuna draws inspiration from Priyabhashini's life and artwork.

Her sculptures tell us her pain she suffered during the 1971 independence war. She began picking up the city’s refuse—twigs, branches, waste paper, fallen trees—in other words, objects of no use to anyone, and saw beauty in them.

“I collect rejected material. I pick up waste. And I turn it into art," Priyabhashini.

She gathered what the city had discarded, twisting those objects, transforming those fragile twigs by unleashing the beauty within, giving those wounded parts of a city’s debris a new identity.

A branch, probably crushed beneath the tyres of a rickshaw, taking the shape of a bird in flight, denoting freedom. The stump of a tree became a stool, offering support. And messy leaves were reborn in a collage where they trembled gently, like waves in a lake.

The joy of freedom to her was different than rest of Bangladeshi. What is Bangladesh to you?

"We are proud to have been a witness to the independence of our country and we all sacrificed or fought in our own ways," she said, wiping her tears. "It is a matter of great emotion for me."

At the age of 70, the self-made celebrated sculptor, Ferodousi Priyabhashini lay in her made at home with a fractured left leg and related old-age complications. 

"I might not be able to walk normally like before after this accident, but I want to live. I should live as I have survived 1971."

Priyabhashini regretted that she was yet to get the Freedom Fighter's pension.

"The process is too cumbersome and I do not know when I will eventually get it. I need it now as I am sick."

Nadeem Qadir, The writer is with The Asian Age

Priyabhashini was born on 19 February 1947 in Khulna, Bangladesh to her parents Rowshan Hasina and Syed Mahbubul Hoque. Priyabhashini was married to Mr. Quazi Sirajul Islam (her first husband)1963. He was a part-time music teacher earlier and he became an engineer later. He was a kind of irresponsible and oppressive.   They had three sons. But their married life was not happy and separation became inevitable before 1971. Still she was always there for her kids.

With her beloved husband Mr. Ahasunullah
Photo courtesy - Fuleshwary Priyanandini (Daughter) 

After the war ended, she married with Mr. A.T. Ahmedullah Ahmed. She met her second husband Mr. A. T Ahsanullah Ahmed  at her workplace Platinum Jute Mills, Khulna. He was her superior in service. The two later developed a bond of friendship and dependence that lasted until death. Ahsanullah  had a nick name - Bear/ ভালুক, and Priyabhashini used to call him Bear bhai/ Bhalook.

He was a freedom fighter as well but never claimed it! Beyond the conjugal life, they shared an inspiring life together and celebrated their bond of love and understanding. He passed away on 16 March, 2021. At present, they are both sleeping peacefully in the same grave  Mirpur Martyred Intellectual.

- Fuleshwary Priyanandini (Daughter)

 

 

“For our marriage, my husband had to sacrifice his share of his ancestral property and house as I was a Birangana and was alleged to be a collaborator,” Priyabhashini said in her autobiography.

On the 6th March, 2018 sculptor Ferodousi Priyabhasini has died. 

Awards

• Government of Bangladesh awarded her Independence Day Award in 2010.
• Hero by the Reader's Digest magazine (2004)
• Chadernath Podok
• Ananna Shirshow Podok
• Silver Jubilee Award by YWCA
• Human Rights Award by Manabadhikar Sangstha

"The memory of your heroism and sacrifice will be immortalized with the name of Bangladesh and the flag of Bangladesh. You will survive by being our inspiration in your artwork." 

- Rukshana Sharia 

 

 

 

"Gender equality means respect to each other eyes. Evaluate each others feelings." - Rukshana Sharia 

"Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow"

8th Murch #IWD22

References:

https://www.observerbd.com/2015/08/11/104233

https://dailyasianage.com/news/101020/ferdousi-priyabhashini-i-want-to-

https://www.benarnews.org/english/news/bengali/bangladesh-independence-030820181631

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/zi1lXbgo6Y6oBoyArvt1eO/The-inspiring-life-of-Ferdousi-Priyabhashini 

http://ferdousypriyabhashiny.weebly.com

Ferdousi Priyabhashini facebook.com

Fuleshwary Priyanandini (Daughter)

Wikipedia 

Salil Tripathi is a writer based in London. Read Salil’s previous Mint column

https://cgd-sharia.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-war-must-end-now-children-should.html

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