Time capsule: A voice for the voiceless

“This is truly the age where the joota (shoe) is Japani, patloon (pants) is Englistani, the topi (hat) is Roosi, but the dil… dil (heart) is always Hindustani… My country, torn, tattered, proud,beautiful, hot, humid, cold, sandy, Shining India. My country.” At the 2006 Frankfurt Book Fair, Mahasweta Devi delivered these lines to an audience of international literati, the room holdingits breath. In her words, India was alive in all its contradictions—scarred yet proud, battered yet beautiful—and she, through her presence and voice, made the world feel its pulse. She didn’t needglitz, applause, or carefully curated charm. She had something far rarer: authority born of living the lives she wrote about, of carrying the stories of India’s tribal communities, its forgotten women, itssilenced voices. There was no pretence in her presence, only truth—raw, unsparing and alive—as if the country she loved so fiercely was speaking through her.“The real history is made by ordinary people,” she said, and spent decades proving it—from the tribal hamlets of Bengal to the courts and classrooms of the nation. The courage, grief and resilience she witnessed became the core of her writing. In every story, every essay, every act of witness, she made the invisible visible, the silenced heard and the ignored unforgettable. Her writing does not simply move us; it unsettles us, because it asks us to see fully, finally—that which we were taught not to notice.Born on January 14, 1926, in Dacca, then part of British India, Mahasweta Devi grew up in a family steeped in literature and social consciousness. Her father, Manish Ghatak, was a poet and novelistassociated with the progressive Kallol movement, while her mother, Dharitri Devi, was a writer and social worker. Mahasweta Devi began her schooling in Dhaka and continued in West Bengal, including formative years at Santiniketan, later earning a bachelor’s and master’s in English literature from Calcutta University.Her literary career began in earnest in the mid-1950s with her first novel, based on the life of the Rani of Jhansi, for which she visited the region to collect stories and songs from local people.Over decades, she chronicled the lives of tribal communities, particularly the Lodhas and Shabars and focused on women and other marginalised groups.Alongside writing, she taught at Vijaygarh Jyotish Ray College, an institution serving working-class women, and worked as a journalist and editor. Her activism was inseparable from her writing—she raised her voice against land seizures, industrial policies and social injustice, often leading movements, petitions, and campaigns that had tangible impact, such as ensuring justice for tribal communities or campaigning against the death penalty.Her literary oeuvre is vast, spanning over a hundred novels and more than 20 collections of short stories, most originally in Bengali, but widely translated into other languages. Among her most celebrated works are 'Hajar Churashir Maa', a haunting portrayal of a mother grappling with political violence; 'Rudali', which examines the lives of impoverished women forced to commodify grief; and 'Aranyer Adhikar' (Right to the Forest), which tells the story of the tribal leader Birsa Munda and their struggle against colonial and feudal exploitation. Her contributions were widely recognised with awards such as the Sahitya Akademi Award, Jnanpith Award, Ramon Magsaysay Award and India’s civilian honours, the Padma Shri and Padma Vibhushan.In her later years, she remained engaged and fearless, writing prolifically, publishing essays and mentoring young writers, while never shying away from speaking out on social and political issues. Even in her 80s, she used her voice to challenge injustice and push society to confront uncomfortable truths—proving that her pen and her conscience were never at rest. She passed away in 2016, at the age of 90, leaving behind a literary legacy and a life devoted to giving voice to the voiceless.

Time capsule: A voice for the voiceless

Mahasweta Devi (January 14, 1926-July 28, 2016)

Simran Sandhu

Time capsule: A voice for the voiceless

Mahasweta Devi (January 14, 1926-July 28, 2016)

Simran Sandhu

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