Mahasweta Devi passes away

Kolkata: Eminent writer and social activist Mahasweta Devi, a crusader for the rights of tribals and the oppressed, died at a nursing home in Kolkata on Thursday following prolonged old-age complications. She was 90.

"She passed away at 3.16 pm following a cardiac arrest and multi-organ failure," an attending doctor confirmed. Ramon Magsaysay winner is survived by her daughter-in-law and grandchild. Mahasweta Devi's son pre-deceased her two years back.

The Jnanpith and Padma Vibhushan awardee was undergoing treatment for age-related illnesses and renal problems at the private clinic for over two months. In a 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 simple style laced with colloquial words and expressions, Mahasweta blended oral histories with contemporary events to portray the sufferings of the tribals in the hands of upper-caste landlords, money lenders and government servants.

The novel "Aranyer Adhikar" (The Occupation of the Forest), dwelling on Birsa Munda's revolt against the British, fetched Mahasweta the Sahitya Akademi award in 1979. "Choti Munda evam Tar Tir" (Choti Munda and His Arrow), "Bashai Tudu", "Titu Mir", are among other masterpieces.

Her short story collections including "Imaginary Maps" and "Breast Stories", "Of Women, Outcasts, Peasants, and Rebels", and short stories "Dhowli" and "Rudali" also deal with tribal life.

Another famous novel published in 1975 - "Hajar Churashir Maa" (Mother of 1,084) - inspired by Maxim Gorky's "Mother", has the backdrop of the Maoist movement. Born in 1926 at Dhaka, presently capital of Bangladesh, into a family of poets, writers, and artists, Mahasweta Devi was moulded as a child in the rich milieu of Bengali high culture.