Mahasweta Devi(1926-2016)

Art & Deal Correspondent

Mahashweta Devi, the 90 year old noted writer-activist from Bengal, passed away on July 28th 2016. Born in 1926 in Dhaka, now in Bangladesh,Mahashweta was inspired by both her poet-writer father, Manish Ghatak, and her social-worker mother, Dharitri Devi. Renowned Bengali film director Rittik Ghatak was her brother, and great dramatist and actor Bijan Bhattachariya her husband. She was strongly influenced by the art and literature background of her family early in life. Mahasweta Devi graduated from Calcutta University this was followed by an MA degree in English from the Visva Bharti University. Devi started teaching at the Bijoygarh College in 1964. She then began working as a professor and journalist. Her first book, Jhansir Rani was published in 1956. This work also marked the beginning of a prolific literary career. She retired from her academic post in 1984 and became a full time writer.

Alongside her writing she vehemently pursued social work. Mahashweta Devi was deeply involved in and endlessly struggled for the upliftment of tribal communities. For her extensive work with the Sabars, a de-notified tribal community in the Purulia district of West Bengal, she came to be known as “The Mother of the Sabars”, she was also closely associated with the West Bengal Oraon Welfare Society, the All Indian Vandhua Liberation Morcha and was the founding member of Aboriginal United Association. Fighing for the cause of approximately 150 different tribes, she had been editing the tribal magazine, Bartika, since 1980.