Mahasweta devi biography in english

Mahasweta Devi was a famed Indian novelist and writer of short stories, usually featuring female and/or subaltern characters.

Devi was born on January 14, in what is now Bangladesh. Her father was a writer and her mother and aunt educated illiterate girls in Dhaka, which inspired in Devi a life of service.

In Devi married playwright Bijon Bhattacharya, and they moved to Calcutta (now Kolkata) where they had a son. Devi had to work odd jobs to supplement her husband’s income. She received a master’s degree in English from Shantiniketan, an experimental university founded by experimental poet Rabindranath Tagore.

Devi’s first novel was The Queen of Jhansi, a story based on an actual figure of a princess who fought and lost her life in the Mutiny of against the British, published in when she was She researched the story throughout northern India, and once said, “I have a firm opinion that the most precious historical material is what is preserved in the memory of the common people.” Other novels include Mother of () and The Occupation of the Forest (). Overall, Devi wrote more than a hundred books, most of them in her native language of Bengali. She also contributed to literary magazines and was an English lecturer at a Kolkata university.

Rahul Ranjan writes, “Mahasweta Devi’s powerful publications on themes of social realism, caste and most important, Adivasi (indigenous people) allows the readers to meander through the complex, often intense, struggle faced by the most defenseless people on the map of nation-state. Even when negotiating language differences, Devi’s words never fail to construct her character as docile, disempowered. Her writings are drawn from personal ‘field’ experiences and ‘texts’ reflect the interaction between the two and emerge organically as one.” She was involved with bonded labor and worked to secure public interest against the state on behalf of the aboriginal people in ; the government of India named her Padmashree (distingu

Indian Bengali fiction writer and socio-political activist

Mahasweta Devi (14 January – 28 July ) was an Indian writer in Bengali and an activist. Her notable literary works include Hajar Churashir Maa, Rudali, and Aranyer Adhikar. She was a leftist who worked for the rights and empowerment of the tribal people (Lodha and Shabar) of West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states of India. She was honoured with various literary awards such as the Sahitya Akademi Award (in Bengali), Jnanpith Award and Ramon Magsaysay Award along with India's civilian awards Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan.

Early life and education

Mahasweta Devi was born in a Brahmin family on 14 January in Dacca, British India (now Dhaka, Bangladesh). Her father, Manish Ghatak, was a poet and novelist of the Kallol movement, who used the pseudonym Jubanashwa (Bengali: যুবনাশ্ব). Ghatak's brother was filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak. Devi's mother, Dharitri Devi, was also a writer and a social worker whose brothers include sculptor Sankha Chaudhury and the founder-editor of Economic and Political Weekly of India, Sachin Chaudhury.

Devi's first schooling was in Dhaka, Eden Montessori School (). After that, she moved to West Bengal (now in India). Then she studied in Mission Girls' High School, Midnapore (). After that she was admitted to Santiniketan ( to ). After that, she studied at Beltala Girls' School () where she finished her matriculation. Then in she got I.A. from Asutosh College. She attended Rabindranath Tagore-founded Visva-Bharati University and completed a B.A. (Hons) in English, and then finished an M.A. in English at Calcutta University.

Career

Literary works

Devi wrote over novels and over 20 collections of short stories primarily written in Bengali but oft

Biography

Mahasweta Devi was born in in the city of Dacca (now Dhaka) in East Bengal (modern-day Bangladesh). As an adolescent, she and her family moved to West Bengal in India. Born into a literary family, Mahasweta Devi was also influenced by her early association with Gananatya, a group who attempted to bring social and political theater to rural villages in Bengal in the s and s. After finishing a master’s degree in English literature from Calcutta University, Devi began working as a teacher and journalist. Her first book, Jhansir Rani (The Queen of Jhansi), was published in This work also marked the beginning of a prolific literary career. In the next half-century, Devi published twenty collections of short stories and close to a hundred novels, primarily in her native language of Bengali. She was also a regular contributor to several literary magazines such as Bortika, a journal dedicated to the cause of oppressed communities within India. In , she retired from her job as an English lecturer at a Kolkata university to concentrate on her writing. Devi was the recipient of several literary prizes. She was awarded the Jnanpath, India’s highest literary award in In the following year, she was one of the recipients of the Magsaysay award, considered to be the Asian equivalent of the Nobel Prize. She passed away in July in her home of many years, Kolkata, India.

Major Works and Themes

Mahasweta Devi’s first work, Jhansir Rani, was a fictional reconstruction of Laxmibal, the ruler who died fighting the British Author army in the mid-nineteenth century. Several of her other early works such as Amrita Sanchay () and Andhanmalik () are also set during the British colonial period. The  Naxalite movement of the late ′s and early ′s were also an important  influence in her work. Devi, in a interview, points to this movement as the first major event that she felt “an urge and an obligation to document” (Bandyopandhyay viii). This leftist militant movem

Devi, Mahasweta () eminent writer and human rights activist. She was born on 14 January at her uncle’s house at 15 Zindabahar Lane, Armanitola, Dhaka. Her father’s name was Manish Ghatak and mother was Dharitri Devi. Father was a poet and a writer. Mother was also a poet. Mahashweta is the eldest among the nine children of her parents. The cultural and traditional practices of her both paternal and maternal clan were deeply ingrained in Mahasweta’s mind. Her father Manish Ghatak was a famous writer of the Kallol era and her uncle Ritvik Ghatak was the famous film director.

Mahasweta returned to Calcutta from Santiniketan after passing BA with Honours in English in and enrolled in MA (English) in Calcutta University. But her university education was stopped for a long time due to the communal riots in leading to the closure of educational institutions. After about seventeen years, in , she passed MA.

In , Mahasweta Devi joined Vijaygarh Jyotish Roy College as a teacher of English. After choosing writing as a profession, she voluntarily retired from teaching in From this time, Mahasweta Devi emerged as a dedicated journalist and writer. Among the hundreds of books written by her, ‘Hajar Churashi Ma’ is one of the prominent ones. Also notable, among her novels are ‘Aranya Odhikar’, ‘Nairite Megh’, ‘Agnigarbha’, ‘Chotti Munda O Tar Tir’, and ‘Shalgirir Dake’.

While studying in college, she had shown interest in communism but she never had the confidence in party politics. She believed in humanism. Her first biographical work ‘Jhansi Rani’ was published in Desh Patrika in

Mahasweta Devi was married to Bijon Bhattacharya, a prominent theatre personality. Later she was married second time to Asit Gupta. After divorce with her second husband, she had lived a lonely life.

History-based biography ‘Jhansi Rani’ gave solid foundation to Mahasweta’s position in the literary world. She also wrote several historical novels, such as ‘AndharManik’ (), ‘Titumir’ () a