ABSTRACT
Swarnakumari Devi raised her voice in defence of women through her writings. During her lifetime, her novels were as popular as those of Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay, the most eminent litterateur of his time. Swarnakumari emerged as a notable essayist of her time and wrote on a number of issues, namely, socio-political and gender, educational and historical, travelogues and scientific essays and many others on burning contemporary affairs. Most of the women's organizations in nineteenth century Bengal were restricted to upper caste and upper class women alone. Swarnakumari formulated her own idea of patriotism and was involved in a number of events that prove her deep attachment to the nationalist movement. Swarnakumari popularized her idea of nationalism through her writings. She also tried to promote education among the women. She focused primarily on the upper and upper middle class Hindu society. She concentrated on the betterment of the lot of women from these strata.
