Mahasweta Devi Biography, Age, Death, Height, Weight, Family, Wiki & More

Short Biography

Mahasweta Devi was born on 14-01-1926 in Dhaka, Bangladesh. She is an Indian & Bangladeshi Writer, Activist, Novelist, Socialist  & Author.

Mahasweta Devi Complete Bio & Career

Mahasweta Devi was a well known Indian social activist and a Bengali fiction.She started her schooling Eden Montessori school in Dhaka and then at Midnapur Mission School Girls High School.She went to Santiniketan and later Beltala Girls' School for her education till metric.She later admitted to Bhavana Vishvabharati University, founded by Rabindranath Tagore and completed her Bachelor degree in Arts in English honors and then Master of Arts degree from Calcutta University.

‘Jhansir Rani’ was her first novel which was based on Rani of Jhansi’s biography in 1956.She had traveled and visited the Jhansi region to gather information from folk songs and people for the novel.She served as a teacher at Jadavpur,Kolkata-32.She worked as a creative writer and a journalist.She studied the tribal communities in West Bengal,Shabars,and Lodhas, Dalits,and women.Her writing revealed and portrayed the brutal oppression of these people and untouchables by lenders,potent,authoritarian upper-caste landlords,and venal government officials.Used,exploited people not accepting the defeat became her inspiration for writing.

She had written 20 short stories collections and 100 novels in Bengali.Her work was later translated into English. Postcolonial scholar Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak translated her short stories in English and those were published in books such as The Breast Stories, Imaginary Maps,and Old Woman. Hajar Churashir Maa, Aranyer Adhikar, Agnigarbha, Murti, Neerete Megh,Stanyadayani,and Chotti Munda Evam Tar Tir are few of her work.Her work was adapted by few movies including Sunghursh, Rudaali, Bayern, Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa, Maati Maay, Gangor,and Ullas.

She was active in social work and was seen raising voice against the discrimination in India.Her activism made Jharkhand State Government free the tribal leader Birsa Munda’s statue in 2016.She participated in the movement against West Bengal’s earlier Communist Party of India (Marxist) government’s industrial policy,criticizing fertile agricultural confiscation from the farmers. She led Nandigram agitation and was able to bring the theatre workers, writers, and artists together against the controversial policy.She had a massive heart attack and multiple organ failures which caused her death in July 2016.