Mahasweta Devi : Author

So are her novels, in more ways than one.Tribals, underdogs, martyrs, rebels andcrusaders people her literary output. Hajar Churasir Maa (Mother of Convict No.1084) traces, through the point of view of a grieving mother, the life of a young Naxalitewho lies dead in a police morgue. Aranyer Adhikar (The Right to the Forest),which fetched her a Sahitya Akademi award in 1979, revolves around Birsa Munda, who led ahistoric tribal revolt against the British in Chhotanagpur at the turn of this century. Agnigarbha(Volcano) is her tribute to the young men who laid down their lives for the Naxalitecause.

Any war that is waged for bettering the lot of the dispossessed is Mahasweta’s ownwar. Both in literature and in life. That, more than anything else, explains the mythicproportions that her spartan lifestyle and her powerful work have assumed over the years.