| Sabeena Rafi | |
| Birth Date: | 1918 10, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Gothuruth, present day Ernakulam district, Kerala, India |
| Occupation: | Essayist, historian |
| Spouse: | Ponjikkara Rafi |
| Awards: | Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Miscellaneous Works |
Sabeena Rafi (6 October 1918 – 22 June 1990) was an Indian essayist and historian of Malayalam literature. Her oeuvre consists of philosophical works, an autobiography and Chavittu Nadakam - Oru Charithra Padanam, the first historical compendium on Chavittu Nadakam, an operatic dance form. Her book, Kaliyugam, a philosophical work jointly written with her husband, Ponjikkara Rafi, fetched her the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Miscellaneous Works in 1972.
Sabeena was born on 6 October 1918 at Gothuruth, a small village in the periphery of present day Ernakulam district of the south Indian state of Kerala to Joseph and Mariamma.[1] She earned two master's degrees, in History and Economics, and served our her career as a teacher. She married Ponjikkara Rafi in 1963,[2] following a period of romance,[3] but the couple did not have children.[4] She died on 22 June 1990, at the age of 65;[5] survived by Rafi, who died two years later, on 6 September 1992.
Sabeen Rafi's oeuvre consists of five non-fiction works and Chritumas Sammanam, her autobiography.[6] Chavittu Nadakam - Oru Charithra Padanam, her 1964 publication on the history of Chavittu Nadakam, an operatic dance form originated in Ernakulam, is considered to be the first comprehensive book on the subject.[7] Marxism, Oru Thirinjunottam, a book co-written with her husband, is a detailed study of the Marxian theory and its spiritual aspects; the book also has a critique on Mother of Maxim Gorky.[8] Kaliyugam, again a Ponjikkara Rafi co-written work, is a study of human behaviour from early ages, with a philosophical perspective. The book fetched her the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award for Miscellaneous Works in 1972.[9]