Roy, Kamini
Roy, Kamini (1864-1933) poet and social worker, was born on 12 October 1864 in the village of Basanda in Bakerganj district. Her father, Chandicharan Sen, was a district judge and writer. She passed the Entrance examination in 1880 from Bethune Female School, and FA in 1883 and BA (Hons) in Sanskrit in 1886 from bethune college. The same year she started teaching at Bethune College. In 1894 she married Kedarnath Roy.
Kamini Roy was involved in cultural and social welfare activities, especially women's welfare. She was a member of the Female Labour Investigation Commission (1922-23), president of the literary section of the Bengal Literary Conference (1930) and vice president of the vangiya sahitya parishad (1932-33). She was also inclined towards literature and started composing poems at an early age. Her first book of poems, Alo O Chhaya, was published in 1889 with an introduction by hemchandra banerjee. Her other poetical works include Nirmalya (1891), Pauraniki (1897), Guvjan (children's poems, 1904), Dharmaputra (translation, 1907), Malya O Nirmalya (1913), Ashoksabgit (sonnet, 1914), Amba (play, 1915), Balika Shiksar Adarsha (1918), Thakurmar Chithi (1924), Dip O Dhup (1929), Jibanpathe (sonnet, 1930).
Kamini Roy lost her husband in 1909. Her intense grief and pain over his premature death deeply affected her personal life and was reflected in her poems. Her poetry is influenced by rabindranath tagore and Sanskrit literature of which she was a scholar. In recognition of her contribution to bangla literature she was awarded the Jagattarini medal in 1929 by Calcutta University. She passed away on 27 September 1933. [Anirudha Kahaly]
