‘Surjyajyotir Pakhi’: Remembering Meherunnesa, the first martyred female poet of ’71

No member of Meherunnesa's family lives in their old home anymore. They can no longer bear to stay there. On 27 March 1971, collaborators of the Pakistani army brutally murdered her, her mother, and her two brothers in that very house.

Meherunnesa was a poet, murdered at only 29. It can be said with certainty that had she lived, her name would have spread far and wide. A poem she wrote about coal miners, for instance, reflects her striking clarity of vision:

Koyla khonir gobhire dekhechhi jolte

Jalanibihin mohajiboner solte

Tobu-o kokhono oder shunni bolete

Amrao jani jibon nattyoghore

Bachar khela khelte

Translation: 

Deep within the coal mine, I have seen burning

The wick of a great life, devoid of fuel

Yet, I have never heard them say

That we, too, know how to play the game of survival

In this playhouse of life

From the early 1950s, her poems were published in leading newspapers and magazines like Ittefaq, Begum, Dainik Pakistan, Masik Mohammadi, and Lalana. In a 1954 poem titled 'Rajbondi', she wrote, "Amader dabi mante hobe, rashtrabhasha Bangla chai" that translates to, "Our demands must be met; we want Bangla as a state language."

The poem drew the attention of intelligence agencies, and police arrived to arrest the writer, only to discover that she was merely 12 at the time. They did not take her, but warned her father to ensure she stopped writing anti-government poems.

Her elder sister, Momena Khatun, later donated Meherunnesa's manuscript 'Surjyajyotir Pakhi' to the Liberation War Museum. Now, a new generation is able to learn about this fearless, freedom-seeking poet. 

Poet Kazi Rozy further expanded that path by writing a biography, Shaheed Kobi Meherunnesa, published by the Bangla Academy.

Meherunnesa was lively, gifted in crafts, and blessed with a beautiful singing voice. She cherished Rabindranath's Sanchayita, Nazrul's Sanchita, and the poems of Jasimuddin. She possessed the rare ability to feel the country's sorrows as her own. She disliked remaining static; her writings show her moving in step with the political demands of her time.

As the nation marched through the upheavals of 1969, 1970 and 1971, she too walked that road. Though her early poems were religious in tone, her later works stand at the frontlines of political struggle. In memory of the Language Martyrs, she wrote:

Shohid bhaira swargo shikhor hote

Chokh mele dekho aaj Banglar

Pichhmora kalo pothe

Tomader joto uttorshuri

Bullet-er mukhe hase

Translation: 

Martyred brothers, look down from the peaks of heaven

Today, on the pitch-black roads of Bengal

All your successors

Smile in the face of bullets

In June 1972, Makbula Manzoor wrote in Dainik Bangla, "Meherunnesa burned like a flame in the mass uprising of '69, the processions of '70, and the non-cooperation movement of '71. Standing in the courtyard of the Bangla Academy in February 1969, Meherunnesa recited her immortal poem — 'Probhu Noy Bondhu Ke.' Like a sword of questions, her poem that day sought to pierce the solid foundations of the Ayub regime. And that was not the only one — she scattered many poems like sparks of fire."

Her final poem, Jonota Jegeche (The People Have Risen), was published in Begum on 23 March 1971:

Gonotontrer dipto shopoth konthe konthe shadha

Amra bhengechhi Joy Banglar

Joto bijoyer badha

Translation: 

With the oath of democracy practised in every voice

We have shattered every barrier to victory

For Joy Bangla

According to History of Bangladesh War of Independence: Documents, Vol. 2, edited by Hasan Hafizur Rahman, Meherunnesa recited her poetry at a revolutionary recitation session organised by the Writers' Action Camp at the Bangla Academy on 23 March 1971, alongside poets such as Hasan Hafizur Rahman, Ahsan Habib, Shamsur Rahman, Syed Shamsul Haque, Alauddin Al Azad, and Humayun Kabir. Dr Ahmad Sharif presided over the event.

Courage was in her nature

Meherunnesa was born in 1942 in Khidirpur, Kolkata, to a refugee family. She never had the chance to attend school; instead, she learned from her elder sister. Her family owned a cloth shop in Kalibazar and a shoe shop in Bhabanipur, both of which were looted and burned during the 1947 riots, leaving them destitute.

She worked in a coal shop with her father before the family moved to Dhaka in 1950. They lived in a small rented house in Tantibazar, where her father's new paper business failed, forcing him into low-paid jobs at Nabisco and later the Haque Company. He managed to marry off his eldest daughter before falling ill with cancer.

Another struggle began for Meherunnesa as she took responsibility for her mother and two young brothers, Rafiq and Tutul. Needing a permanent home, she worked as a copyist at Bangla Academy, turning down several marriage proposals. She later joined Philips Radio Company and the USIS library, where she pushed for and helped launch a Bangla newsletter.

Writing as 'Ranu Apa', she produced many political essays during the anti-Ayub movement. Through determination, she eventually secured a house allotment in Mirpur in her father's name.

Meherunnesa was an active member of the Mirpur Action Committee led by Poet Kazi Rozy. Her courage had already alarmed hostile sections of the local Bihari community, but she ignored their threats.

Her brothers Rafiq, Tutul, and she joined Student Action Council programmes, chanting Joy Bangla, and stood in the front rows during Sheikh Mujib's 7 March speech. On 23 March, she hoisted a flag with the map of Bangladesh atop her home.

Liberation War Museum trustee Mofidul Hoque noted, she had grown up struggling as part of a refugee family; courage, it seems, was in her nature.

He added, "Sufia Khalamma [Poet Sufia Kamal] was very fond of her. There were not many female poets at that time; among the few who existed, Meherunnesa stood out. Her poetry possessed both courage and beauty. She became known in the world of arts and culture. And because she was a woman, the killer mobs were enraged; they were waiting for an opportunity. In the very first hours of the crackdown, she fell victim to their savagery."