Indian writer Mahasweta Devi dies at 90
Ramon Magsaysay winner championed the cause of neglected tribal communities
She used her writing to give voice to oppressed poor tribal and forest dwellers |
Eminent writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi passed away at a nursing home in Kolkata yesterday following prolonged illness, a doctor who had been treating her said. She was 90.
The Ramon Magsaysay winner is survived by her daughter-in-law and grandchild. Mahasweta Devi’s son predeceased her two years ago.
“She passed away at 3.16pm following a cardiac arrest and multi-organ failure,” the doctor said.
“All through my life, I’ve done whatever I felt like doing” – this quote aptly describes the fiercely independent-minded Mahasweta Devi, the doyen of activist-writers in India.
The Ramon Magsaysay and Jnanpith awardee Bengali novelist penned telling commentaries on the sufferings and oppression of tribals, and in a rarity for a city-bred writer, came down from the ivory tower to mingle with them. She shared their food and huts, tried to understand their problems and fought the powersthat-be to uphold the rights and better the living condition of these backward people.
In her six-decade literary career, she wrote over 120 books, including 20 collections of short stories and around 100 novels.
Adopting a distinctly matter-of-fact style free from sentimentality, Mahasweta vividly portrayed the sufferings the tribals endured at the hands of upper-caste landlords, moneylenders and government servants, and chronicled the stories of tribal resistance and protests.
Aranyer Adhikar (The Occupation of the Forest), dwelling on Birsa Munda’s revolt against the British, fetched Mahasweta the Sahitya Akademi award in 1979.
She taught at a college for two decades and also dabbled in journalism. She subsequently quit the lecturer’s job in 1984, devoting all her time to the pen and activism.