MAHASWETA DEVI

FROM SAMPATH’S DESK:

  


 

 MAHASWETA DEVI

(14 January 1926-28 July 2016)

  

MAHASWETA DEVI was born on 14.1.1926 in Dacca which was part of the erstwhile composite and undivided India during the pre-independence days. Her Alma mater was Viswa Bharati University, an affiliate of Calcutta University.

 

She was an eminent writer (mostly in Bengali), social activist, and crusader of the rights and empowerment of tribal people (Lodha and Shabar) and the oppressed people of West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.

 

MAHASWETA DEVI relentlessly raised her voice for the voiceless. While some used their powers to make others powerless, she empowered the underprivileged sections of the society. She was also an intellectual bridge between the pre and post-independence eras.

 

In a six-decade literary career, she authored over 120 books comprising 20 collections of short stories and around 100 novels, and contributed many 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, she blended oral histories with contemporary events to portray the sufferings of the tribals in the hands of landlords, money lenders, and government servants.

 

Devi helped the tribals and rural people in organizing themselves in groups so that they could take up development activities in their areas. She founded several grass-root level societies for the welfare of the tribals.

 

She was honoured with Sahitya Akademi Award in Bengali (1979), Jnanith Award (1996), Ramon Magsaysay Award (1997) and India’s civilian awards Padma Shri (1986) and Padma Vibhushan (2006), among others.

 

Life is an exciting business, and most exciting when it is lived for others. Again, real living is 'living for others'. She did to the marginalized sections of the society what a spring does for the cherry trees.

 

“Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant” True to this saying, she had planted many seeds in empowerment of the needy which have now grown into full-fledged fruit-bearing trees for generations.

 

C.G. Jung once said, “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”

 

We all live under the same sky, but we don’t all have the same horizon.  Mahasweta Devi was one among those who went beyond the horizons in the service of others to live beyond her life.

 

Her loud voice went permanently silent on 28.7.2016 at a ripe age of 90. Mahasweta Devi's selfless services for decades have immortalized her.

 

 

 

(R.SAMPATH)

30/7/2016

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