Mahasweta Devi was an Indian writer in Bengali and an activist.
22 Facts About Mahasweta Devi
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Mahasweta Devi was a leftist who worked for the rights and empowerment of the tribal people of West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh states of India.
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Mahasweta Devi was honoured with various literary awards such as the Sahitya Akademi Award, Jnanpith Award and Ramon Magsaysay Award along with India's civilian awards Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan.
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Mahasweta Devi was born in a Brahmin family on 14 Jan 1926 in Dacca, British India.
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Mahasweta Devi's father, Manish Ghatak, was a poet and novelist of the Kallol movement, who used the pseudonym Jubanashwa.
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Mahasweta Devi wrote over 100 novels and over 20 collections of short stories primarily written in Bengali but often translated to other languages.
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Mahasweta Devi had toured the Jhansi region to record information and folk songs from the local people for the novel.
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Mahasweta Devi's specialisation lay in the studies of Adivasi, Dalit and Marginalized citizens with a focus on their women.
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Mahasweta Devi lived in the Adivasi villages in West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh years after years, befriending them and learning from them.
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Mahasweta Devi has embodied their struggles and sacrifices in her words and characters.
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Mahasweta Devi had claimed that her stories aren't her creation, they are the stories of the people of her country.
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Mahasweta Devi studied the Lodhas and Shabars, the tribal communities of West Bengal, women and dalits.
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Mahasweta Devi raised her voice several times against the discrimination suffered by tribal people in India.
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Mahasweta Devi spearheaded the movement against the industrial policy of the earlier Communist Party of India government of West Bengal.
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Mahasweta Devi supported the candidature of Mamata Banarjee in the 2011 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election which resulted in the end of the 34-year long rule of CPI.
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Mahasweta Devi had connected the policy to the commercialization of Santiniketan of Rabindranath Tagore, where she spent her formative years.
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In 1997, president Shankar Dayal Sharma commuted two death sentences after Mahasweta Devi led a petition campaign.
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Mahasweta Devi worked in a post office but was fired for her communist leaning.
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Mahasweta Devi went on to do various jobs, such as selling soaps and writing letters in English for illiterate people.
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On 23 July 2016, Mahasweta Devi suffered a major heart attack and was admitted to Belle Vue Clinic, Kolkata.
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Mahasweta Devi died of multiple organ failure on 28 July 2016, aged 90.
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Mahasweta Devi had suffered from diabetes, sepsis and urinary infection.