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{{Short description|Indian writer, socialite, educationist and social reformer (1872–1912)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Khujista Akhtar Banu
| image = Khujista Akhtar Banu.jpg
| birth_date = 11 October 1872<ref name="burke">{{cite book|title=Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood|publisher=Burke's Peerage & Gentry|editor=Burke, Sir Bernard|editor-link=Bernard Burke|edition=97th|year=1939|pages=2921–2922|ref=Burke|title-link=Burke's Peerage}}</ref>
| birth_place = [[Midnapore]], [[Bengal]], British India
| death_date = {{death date and age|1912|1|12|1872|10|11|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Calcutta]], [[Bengal]], British India
| spouse = [[Zahid Suhrawardy]]
| father = [[Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy]]
| family = [[Suhrawardy family]]
| children = [[Hasan Shaheed Suhrawardy]],<br />[[Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy]]
}}
'''Khujista Akhtar Banu Suhrawardiyya''' (also spelled as Khujastha Akhtar Banu), popularly known as '''Suhrawardy Begum''', was a late 19th-century writer, [[Bengalis|Bengali]] socialite, [[educationist]], and [[social reformer]]. Khujista was the first Indian woman to pass the [[Senior Cambridge|Senior Cambridge examinations]], in the year 1887.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Khan|first=Waqar A.|date=2020-11-09|title=The Unforgettable Suhrawardys of Bengal|url=https://www.thedailystar.net/in-focus/news/the-unforgettable-suhrawardys-bengal-1991705|access-date=2021-10-23|work=The Daily Star|language=en}}</ref> She was also the first Indian woman to be appointed as an examiner by the prestigious [[Calcutta University]]. She was the mother of [[Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy]], the former [[Prime Minister of Bengal]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Individual : SUHRAWARDY - Search the Genealogy Library|url=https://en.geneanet.org/fonds/bibliotheque/?go=1&nom=SUHRAWARDY&prenom=&prenom_operateur=&size=50&with_variantes_nom=&with_variantes_prenom=|access-date=2021-10-23|website=Geneanet|language=en}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Khujista Akhtar was born into the illustrious [[Suhrawardy family]] of Bengal in 1872 as the eldest daughter of [[Ubaidullah Al Ubaidi Suhrawardy]] and his wife, Makbullan nissa Begum. She was thus a direct descendant of [[Shihab al-Din 'Umar al-Suhrawardi]] and [[Bahauddin Zakariya|Bahauddin Zakariya Suhrawardi]]. Khujista's grandfather, Shah Aminuddin Suhrawardy, is reckoned to be the last Sufi Pir of the [[Suhrawardiyya]] order in Bengal. Her brothers include [[Abdullah Al-Mamun Suhrawardy]] and [[Hassan Suhrawardy]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last=Amin|first=Sonia Nishat|url=https://brill.com/view/book/9789004491403/B9789004491403_s009.xml|title=Rise of Formal Education|date=1996-01-01|publisher=Brill|isbn=978-90-04-49140-3|language=en}}</ref>

Like many of her female forebears in the family, she too was homeschooled in her early years, mostly because there were no schools for girls at that time. She learned [[Persian language|Persian]], [[Arabic]], English, and [[Urdu]] from her father. She later graduated with honours in mathematics and Persian literature from the Indian Board of Examinations in the year 1887.<ref name=":1" /> After finishing her senior [[Cambridge]], she was appointed as an examiner for Urdu literature by [[Calcutta University]]; she was the only Indian woman to have received this honour at that time.<ref name=":0" />

==Career==

Khujista was determined to educate and uplift the Indian masses; hence, she entered into the domain of social work. As a writer, she wrote the famous book "Aaina e Ibrat", which was approved by [[Calcutta University]] and was incorporated in the syllabus for all its affiliated colleges.<ref>{{Cite web|title=tipu sultan grandson|url=http://www.thedronemission.co.za/hgerf/tipu-sultan-grandson-a86573|access-date=2021-10-23|website=thedronemission.co.za|archive-date=23 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023073559/http://www.thedronemission.co.za/hgerf/tipu-sultan-grandson-a86573|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Amin|first=S. N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VcAfpv6x0m4C&pg=PA171|title=The World of Muslim Women in Colonial Bengal, 1876-1939|date=1996|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-10642-0|language=en}}</ref>

In 1909, she founded the Suhrawardia Girls School in [[Calcutta]]. The school was inaugurated by Lady Minto Anna Maria Amyand, the wife of the former [[Viceroy of India]], [[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto]], better known as [[Lord Minto]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|last=Amin|first=S. N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VcAfpv6x0m4C&pg=PA171|title=The World of Muslim Women in Colonial Bengal, 1876-1939|date=1996|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-10642-0|language=en}}</ref>

Khujista empathized with the poor and hence used to visit the slums very often to educate the underprivileged people about health and sanitation, given that epidemics like [[cholera]] and [[influenza]] were in the wake at that time.<ref name=":1" />

==Marriage and family==

Khujista was married to her first cousin, [[Zahid Suhrawardy]], a jurist who served as a judge in the [[Calcutta High Court]]. The couple gave birth to two sons
* [[Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy]], a lawyer and politician who later became the 3rd prime minister of Bengal and the 5th prime minister of Pakistan<ref name=":0" />
* [[Hasan Shaheed Suhrawardy]], a writer and a linguist.<ref name=":0" />

==Death==

Khujista died on 12 January 1919, after she caught influenza during one of her visits to the slums of [[Calcutta]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Amin|first=S. N.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VcAfpv6x0m4C&pg=PA171|title=The World of Muslim Women in Colonial Bengal, 1876-1939|date=1996|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-10642-0|language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Suhrawardy, Khujista}}
[[Category:1919 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian educators]]
[[Category:Indian writers]]
[[Category:People from Midnapore]]
[[Category:Suhrawardy family]]
[[Category:19th-century Bengali people]]
[[Category:20th-century Bengali people]]
[[Category:1872 births]]
[[Category:Bengali Muslims]]
[[Category:Indian social workers]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women educators]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian educators]]
[[Category:Women educators from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Social workers from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Indian social reformers]]
[[Category:Indian reformers]]
[[Category:Bengali educators]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian women educational theorists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:19th-century Indian women educational theorists]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian educational theorists]]
[[Category:Indian women activists]]
[[Category:Activists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Indian feminists]]
[[Category:Indian feminist writers]]
[[Category:Indian women's rights activists]]
[[Category:Writers from British India]]

Khujista Akhtar Banu - Revision history

Danger Pandit Ankit at 19:57, 3 February 2026