Struggle and Voices of Protest: Antyaja and Indigenous Women in Selected Short Stories by Mahasweta Devi/ সংগ্রাম ও প্রতিবাদী কণ্ঠস্বর : মহাশ্বেতা দেবীর নির্বাচিত ছোটগল্পে অন্ত্যজ ও আদিবাসী নারী

Abstract

Mahashweta Devi was one of the gratest noveliest and fiction writers of Bengali language of the twentieth century. She emerged in Bengali literature in 1956 by writing ‘Jhasir rani’ an autobiographical fiction. she was also known to be social worker. In most of her short stories, she mentioned the lives of the Adivasi communities and marginalized sections of society, such as the Bagdi, Dom, Pakhamara, Ganju, Mal, Khariya Bauri, Lodha and others. She observed them very closely and spent a lot of time with them. Based on her real-life experience, she created many remarkable literary works by portraying the social lives of marginalized communities through the representation of various ethnic groups in different contexts. In most of her stories, she has unveiled an alternative history to develop the mental consciousness of inner struggles. In her short stories, we find many tribal and lower-class female characters who constantly protested against their social and sexual exploitation and deprivation. In her story ‘Draupadi’, ‘Shikar’ we draw up the main protagonist two tribal character who protest against their sexual exploitation. But in her story ‘Bayen’, ‘Rudali’, ‘Dhouli’, she raises a question about social degradation in relation to marginalized women. In these narratives, we encounter three central female characters who fall victim to the social exploitation of the upper castes in the form of sexual violence or oppression. This is the thrust of this article.