Background
Rassundari was born in 1809 or 1810 in Potajia village of Pabna.
Rassundari was born in 1809 or 1810 in Potajia village of Pabna.
She is among the earliest woman writers in Bengali literature. She was the first Indian woman to write an autobiography and first Bengali to write an autobiography. Aamar Jiban (My life), her autobiography, was published in 1876.
Her father, Padmalochan Roy, died when Rassundari was a small child.
She never saw her father and was raised by her mother and relatives. She attended a school run by a missionary woman in her father"s house, where boys also studied.
Rassundari attended the school for a brief period and learned some Bangla and Persian. She was a religious Vaishnavite by faith.
She bore 12 children, of whom 7 died early.
Her surviving children were Bepin Behari Sarkar, Dwarka Nath Sarkar, Kishori Lal Sarkar, Pratap Chandra Sarkar and Shyamasundary. Her husband died in 1868. Her son Kishori Lal Sarkar became an advocate at Calcutta High Court.
Rassundari died in 1899.