Homage to the Voice of the Masses

Homage to the voice of the masses मेरा हमेशा से मानना है कि यथाथथ इतिहास िी रचयिा आम जनिा है मेरी लेखनी िा िारण एवं प्रेरणा वे लोग हℂ जो शोतषि और सिाये जािे हℂ किर भी हार नहĂ मानिे िभी-िभी लगिा है मेरी लेखनी असल मᴂ उनिा किया आ िाम है। Eminent litterateur and social activist Mahasweta Devi breathed here last in Kolkata on July 28, 2016 after a prolonged illness. A legendry writer who wrote incessantly about the life and struggles faced by the tribal communities in the states of Bihar, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, she was born on January 14, 1926 into a middle class Bengali family at Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her parents Dharitri Devi and Manish Ghatak were reputed writers and social workers, her paternal uncle was noted filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak while her maternal uncle Shanka Chaudhary was the founder-editor of the Economic and Political Weekly in India. Post-partition when the family shifted to West Bengal, Mahasweta Devi studied at the prestigious Shantiniketan, received the Bachelors of Arts (Hons.) in English from the Visva Bharti University followed by an MA degree in English from the University of Calcutta. Her career as a teacher and journalist commenced shortly after. Influenced by the Communist movement of the 1940s, she chose to work among the poorest of the poor in the tribal areas of southern West Bengal and in other parts of the country. In 1964, Mahasweta Devi began teaching at the Bijoygarh College in 1964. In those times, this particular college was a forum operating for elite female students. This phase was also utilized by her to work as a journalist and a creative writer. Mahasweta Devi was married to one of Bengal’s most prolific playwrights and litterateurs, Bijon Bhattacharya, who was also one of the founding fathers of the Indian People’s Theatre Association (IPTA) movement. Her son, Nabarun Bhattacharya grew up to become a cult figure among a large section of the Bengali literary circuit. Jhansi Ki Rani, her first work was published in 1956, followed by her first novel Nati in 1957. Her most-famous book, Hajar Churashir Maa was based on the mother of a Naxalite in the tumultuous ’70s in Kolkata and was made into a popular Hindi film. Other films based on her works include Sunghursh (1968), Rudaali (1993), and Maati Maay (2006). After the 2006 Singur movement lead by Mamata Banerjee, the author, over 80 years of age at the time, became an advisor to the Trinamool leader, and was the prime face on the dais during the yearly July 21 Martyr’s Day programme organised by the Trinamool Congress. She spent years researching, writing on and campaigning for welfare activities for the tribals of Bengal, especially the Lodha and Shabar communities. Though Mahasweta Devi was a bitter critic of the Left for the past 10 years, her intellectual moorings was initially with the Left. In the fiction themed on Bengal which Devi writes, she often narrates the brutal oppression faced by the tribal people at the hands of the powerful upper caste persons comprising landlords, money lenders and government officials in this belt. During the 2006 Frankfurt Book Fair when India happened to be the first country to have been invited to this fair for a second time, Mahasweta Devi made a very touching inaugural speech which moved many among the listeners to tears. Mahasweta Devi was one of the most decorated writers of the country, with awards such as Sahitya Academi (1979), Padmashri (1986), Jnanpith (1996), Ramon Magsaysay (1997) and Padma Vibhushan (2006) under her belt. Her demise is an irreparable loss to the people and spirit of India’s common masses for whom the legendry lady devoted her words and spirit. .

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