Mahasweta Devi

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Padma Vibhushan Jnanpith Award Sahitya Akademi Award

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Padma Vibhushan
Mahasweta Devi

Mahasweta Devi

Born 14 January 1926

Matualalaya, Dhaka, Bengal Presidency, British India

Died 28 July 2016 (aged 90)

Kolkata, India

Occupation Political activist, author, diplomat

Period 1956–2016

Genre Novel, short story, drama, essay

Subject Denotified tribes of India

Literary movement Gananatya

Notable works west bengal

(Mother of 1084)
Aranyer Adhikar
(The Right of the Forest)
Titu Mir

Notable awards Padma Vibhushan

Padma Shri
Sahitya Akademi Award
Ramon Magsaysay Award
Gyanpith Award

Spouse Bijon Bhattacharya (1947–1962)

Asit Gupta (1965–1976)

Children Nabarun Bhattacharya

Relatives Manish Ghatak (father)

Dharitri Devi (mother)

Signature

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Mahaswetah Devi (14 January 1926 – 28 July 2016)[1][2] was an Indian Bengali fiction
writer and socio-political activist. Her notable literary works include Hajar Churashir Maa,
Rudali, and Aranyer Adhikar.[3] She was a self-recognised communist and worked for the
rights and empowerment of the tribal people (Lodha and Shabar) of West Bengal, Bihar,
Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states of India.[4] She was honoured with various literary
awards such as the Sahitya Akademi Award (in Bengali), Jnanpith Award and Ramon
Magsaysay Award along with India's civilian awards Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan.[5]

Early life
Mahasweta Devi was born in 1926 in Decca, British India (now Dhaka, Bangladesh) to
literary parents. Her father, Manish Ghatak, was a well-known poet and novelist of the
Kallol movement, who used the pseudonym Jubanashwa (Bengali: যুবনা ).[6] Ghatak's
brother was noted filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak.[7] Devi's mother, Dharitri Devi, was also a
writer and a social worker whose brothers were very distinguished in various fields, such as
the noted sculptor Sankha Chaudhury and the founder-editor of Economic and Political
Weekly of India, Sachin Chaudhury. Mahasweta Devi's first schooling was in Dhaka, Eden
Montessori school (1930) but then she moved to West Bengal (Now in India). Then she
studied in Midnapur Mission School Girls High School(1935). After that she was admitted to
Santiniketan (1936 to 1938.) After that, she studied at Beltala Girls' School (1939-1941)
where she got her matric. Then in 1944 she got I.A. from Asutosh College. Then she joined
the Rabindranath Tagore-founded Visva-Bharati University and completed a B.A. (Hons) in
English, and then finished an M.A. in English at Calcutta University.

Career

Literary works
Devi wrote over 100 novels and over 20 collections of short stories primarily written in
Bengali but often translated to other languages.[10] Her first novel, titled Jhansir Rani, based
on a biography of the Rani of Jhansi was published in 1956. She had toured the Jhansi
region to record information and folk songs from the local people for the novel.[3]

In 1964, she began teaching at Vijaygarh Jyotish Ray College (an affiliated college of the
University of Calcutta system). In those days Vijaygarh Jyotish Ray College was an
institution for working-class women students. During that period she also worked -- as a
journalist and as a creative writer. She studied the Lodhas and Shabars, the tribal
communities of West Bengal, women and dalits. In her elaborate Bengali fiction, she often
depicted the brutal oppression on the tribal people and untouchables by the powerful
authoritarian upper-caste landlords, money-lenders, and venal government officials. She
wrote of the source of her inspiration:

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 I have always believed that the real history is made by ordinary people. I constantly come
across the reappearance, in various forms, of folklore, ballads, myths and legends, carried by
ordinary people across generations. ... The reason and inspiration for my writing are those
people who are exploited and used, and yet do not accept defeat. For me, the endless source of
ingredients for writing is in these amazingly noble, suffering human beings. Why should I
look for my raw material elsewhere, once I have started knowing them? Sometimes it seems to
me that my writing is really their doing.[11]

Postcolonial scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak has translated Devi's short stories into
English and published three books Imaginary Maps (1995, Routledge), Old Woman (1997,
Seagull), The Breast Stories (1997, Seagull).[12]

Social activity
Mahasweta Devi raised her voice several times against the discrimination suffered by tribal
people in India. [3] Devi's 1977 novel Aranyer Adhikar (Right to the Forest) was about the life
of Birsa Munda.[3] And in June 2016, consequent to Devi's activism, the Jharkhand State
Government finally saw to the removal of the manacles from the figure of Munda, which
had been part of the commemorative sculpture of the notable young tribal leader due to its
having been based on a photograph dating from the era of British rule.

Devi spearheaded the movement against the industrial policy of the earlier Communist
Party of India (Marxist) government of West Bengal. Specifically, she stridently criticized
confiscation from farmers of large tracts of fertile agricultural land by the government which
then ceded it to industrial houses at throwaway prices. She supported the candidature of
Mamata Banarjee in the 2011 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election which resulted in
the end of the 34-year long rule of CPI(M).[13] She had connected the policy to the
commercialization of Santiniketan of Rabindranath Tagore, where she spent her formative
years. Her lead in the Nandigram agitation resulted in a number of intellectuals, artists,
writers and theatre workers joining together in protest of the controversial policy and
particularly its implementation in Singur and Nandigram.[3]

She is known to have helped the noted writer Manoranjan Bypari to come into prominence
as his initial writings were published in her journal and as prompted by her.

At the Frankfurt Book Fair 2006, when India was the first country to be the Fair's second
time guest nation, she made an impassioned inaugural speech wherein she moved the
audience to tears with her lines taken from the famous film song "Mera Joota Hai Japani"
by Raj Kapoor.

This is truly the age where the Joota (shoe) is Japani (Japanese), Patloon (pants) is Englistani
(British), the Topi (hat) is Roosi (Russian), But the Dil... Dil (heart) is always Hindustani
(Indian)... My country, Torn, Tattered, Proud, Beautiful, Hot, Humid, Cold, Sandy, Shining
India. My country.

Personal life
On 27 February in 1947, she married renowned playwright Bijon Bhattacharya, who was
one of the founding fathers of the Indian People's Theatre Association movement.[7] In
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1948, she gave birth to Nabarun Bhattacharya, who became a novelist and political critic.[15]
She worked in a post office but was fired from there for her communist leaning. She went
on to do various jobs, such as selling soaps and writing letters in English for illiterate
people. In 1962, she married author Asit Gupta after divorcing Bhattacharya. In 1976, the
relationship with Gupta ended.

Death
Mahasweta Devi Memorial unveiled at Adivasi Academy of Tejgadh, Gujarat
On 23 July 2016, Devi suffered a major heart attack and was admitted to Belle Vue Clinic in
Kolkata. Devi died of multiple organ failure on 28 July 2016, aged 90.[16] She had suffered
from diabetes, septicemia and urinary infection.[7]

On her death, Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal tweeted "India has lost a
great writer. Bengal has lost a glorious mother. I have lost a personal guide. Mahasweta Di
rest in peace."[7] Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted "Mahashweta Devi wonderfully
illustrated the might of the pen. A voice of compassion, equality & justice, she leaves us
deeply saddened. RIP."[7]

Awards & Recognition

On 14th January, 2018, Google honored Mahasweta Devi on her 92nd birth
anniversary, celebrating her work by creating a doodle on her.[26]

Major works
Devi's major works are as listed below:

Jhansir Rani (1956, biography)

The Queen of Jhansi, by Mahasweta Devi (translated by Sagaree and Mandira
Sengupta). This book is a reconstruction of the life of Rani Lakshmi Bai from
extensive research of both historical documents (collected mostly by G. C.
Tambe, grandson of the Queen) and folk tales, poetry and oral tradition; the
original in Bengali was published in 1956; the English translation by Seagull
Books, Calcutta, 2000, ISBN 8170461758
Hajar Churashir Maa (1974, novel)
Aranyer Adhikar (1979, novel)
Agnigarbha (1978, short stories collection)
Murti (1979, short stories collection)
Neerete Megh (1979, short stories collection)
Stanyadayani (1980, short stories collection)
Chotti Munda Evam Tar Tir (1980, short stories collection)

Film adaptations
Sunghursh (1968), Hindi film based on short story Layli Asmaner Ayna[28]
Rudaali (1993)[29]

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 Bayen (HindI) (1993)a film based on Short story Directed by Gul Bahar singh
Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa (1998)[29]
Maati Maay (2006), Marathi film based on short story Daayen[29][30]
Gangor (2010), Italian film based on short story Choli Ke Peeche[29]
Ullas (Bengali film based on three short stories—Daur, Mahadu Ekti Rupkatha and
Anna Aranya Anna Aranya)), produced by Sankar Sarkar, directed by Ishwar
Chakraborty, released in 2012.

References

External links
Jnanpith Award recipients

Padma Vibhushan award recipients

Ramon Magsaysay Award winners of India

SAARC Literary Award recipients

Authority control

Categories

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