Author Mahasweta Devi (FIle Photo | PTI)
Eminent author and social activist Mahasweta Devi passed away in Kolkata today. Here are five things to know about her:
- She has written more than a hundred novels and 20 short-stories, her most famous works being 'Master Saab' (The School Teacher), 'Hazar Churasir Maan' (The Mother of 1084), 'Aranyer Audhikar' (The Right to the Forest), and 'Chotti Munda Aar Taar Teer' (Chotti Munda and his Arrow)
- She was born in 1926 in to a literary family in Dhaka, which moved to India after partition. Not only was her father Manish Ghatak (who wrote under the pseudonym Jubanashwa) a well-known poet and novelist of the Kallol era, her mother was also a writer. Her uncle, younger brother of her father was the renowned filmmaker Ritwk Ghatak.
- One of Mahashweta Devi’s early jobs was that of a journalist. She had completed her BA (Hons) in English from Vishwabharati University in Shantiniketan, and then an MA in English at Calcutta University. Soon she took on the job of an English Lecturer at Calcutta University
- She had already begun writing, with first book, Jhansir Rani (The Queen of Jhansi), published in 1956, and marking the start of a prolific literary career, which she delved into full-time after she quit her job in 1984. She wrote primarily in Bengali. Numerous awards have brought recognition to her genius — the Jnanpth in 1995 (India’s highest literary award), the Ramon Magsaysay award in 1996 (considered the Asian Nobel) and the
- Along with her writing career, she had played an active role as a social activist, speaking up against tribal exploitation and working at the grassroots to make the marginalised communities of her state of West Bengal aware of their rights. Her writing too has dedicated much space on the need for political, social and economic advancement of these communities.