Eminent writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi died yesterday following prolonged illness, a doctor said. She was 90.
The Ramon Magsaysay winner is survived by her daughter-in-law and grandchild. Mahasweta Devi’s son died two years ago.
“She passed away at 3.16pm following a cardiac arrest and multi-organ failure,” the doctor said.
The Bengali novelist penned telling commentaries on the sufferings and oppression of tribals, and in a rarity for a city-bred writer, came down from the ivory tower to mingle with them.
She shared their food and huts, tried to understand their problems and fought the powers-that-be to uphold the rights and better the living condition of these backward people.
In her six-decade literary career, she authored over 120 books, comprising 20 collections of short stories and around 100 novels and contributed innumerable articles and columns to newspapers and magazines, a large number of them woven around tribal life. Adopting a distinctly matter-of-fact style free from sentimentality, Devi vividly portrayed the sufferings the tribals endured at the hands of upper-caste landlords, money-lenders and government servants, and chronicled the stories of tribal resistance and protests.
Mahasweta had deep respect for tribal life and culture, highlighting the absence of the caste, dowry systems and gender discrimination in their society - and was convinced the “so-called mainstream” had nothing to offer.
“The tribals are more civilised than us,” she would often say.