Who was Rashsundari Devi?
Rashsundari Devi (1800-1890) was born in West Bengal. She was a housewife from a rich landlord’s family. During her time, it was believed that if a woman learnt to read and write, she would bring bad luck to her husband and become a widow. However even after knowing this, she taught herself how to read and write in secret, well after her marriage.
At the age of 60, she wrote her autobiography in Bangla. Her book titled ‘Amar Jiban’ is the first known autobiography written by an Indian woman.