Mahasweta Devi : Indian Writer and Social Activist

Writer Profile/Biography: Mahasweta Devi The noted Bengali writer and activist, Mahasweta Devi was born in a culturally advanced family in 1926 in Dhaka. Her parents, Manish Ghatak and Dharitri Devi were established novelists and social advocates. Mahasweta was conscious of the socio-political turmoil when she graduated from Shantiniketan in the year 1946. Mahasweta got involved in student politics during the Bengal famine of 1943. She married Bijan Bhattacharya in 1946 and got a job in postal department. However, she was found guilty of communist alliance and lost her job. She took jobs like that of a teacher, saleswoman and monkey exporter. Her first book Jhansir Rani was about the rebellious deportment of Jhansi against British rule.

Mahasweta’s later novels written in late seventies dealt with tribal life and agrarian movements. The reform movements were generally centered around Naxalbari region in North Bengal. Many Bengali youths quitted their studies and joined the uprising by taking up arms against landlords. However, the movement was brutally suppressed.
Few Popular Books of Mahasweta Devi are as follows: The Queen of Jhansi, Hajar Churashir Maa, Aranyer Adhikar, Agnigarbha (Womb of Fire, 1978), Bitter Soil tr, Ipsita Chandra. Seagull, 1998. Four stories: Chotti Munda evam Tar Tir (Choti Munda and His Arrow, 1980),Imaginary Maps, Dhowli (Short Story), Dust on the Road, Our Non-Veg Cow, Bashai Tudu, Titu Mir, Rudali, Breast Stories, Of Women, Outcasts, Peasants, and Rebels, Ek-kori's Dream, The Book of the Hunter, Outcast, Draupadi

In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics, Till Death Do Us Part, Old Women, Kulaputra, The Why-Why Girl, Dakatey Kahini

Films based on Mahasweta Devi's works Sunghursh (1968, Rudaali (1993), Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa (1998), Maati Maay (2006), based on short story, Daayen, Gangor. She had got many awards for her film and books. (Source: Wikipedia).

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