Mahasweta Devi: Indefatigable chronicler of the oppressed

Mahasweta Devi: Indefatigable chronicler of the oppressed: “I don’t want to die,” she said, “I want to live forever.” There was so much to do, so much to write about. If she did die, however, she wanted to be buried and a mahua tree planted on her grave....

Mahasweta Devi

In essence, Mahasweta was a chronicler of oral history and a lobbyist for change. From British-era tribal hero Birsa Munda, fictionalised in Aranyer Adhikar (The Right to the Forest), to the struggle in Nandigram and Singur, she spoke out for the oppressed. Her decades-long demands for the rights of the disempowered, for a more humane society cutting across class, caste, ethnicity, gender and religion, sadly, are still relevant.

M G Warrier

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