Outcast: Four Stories

Mahasweta Devi

Translated by Sarmistha Dutta Gupta

 

5.5 x 8.5 inches, viii + 114pp. 2002

ISBN : 9788170461890

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Four women—Dhouli, Shanichari, Josmina, Chinta—all from the most oppressed, marginalized segments of society. Whether it is Dhouli, the young Dusad woman who finds herself an outcast in her own village; Shanichari, the Oraon girl who is forced into working in the brick kilns outside Calcutta; Josmina, the Ho tribal who, with her husband, gets sucked into the racket of trade in cheap coolie labourl or Chinta, a Brahman widow whose caste is no protection against the harsh social strictures that force her into working as a part-time maid in Calcutta—the life stories of each of these women have one thing in common : the unending class, caste and gender exploitation which makes their lives a relentless struggle for survival. 

Mahasweta Devi is one of India's foremost writers. Her powerful fiction has won her recognition in the form of the Sahitya Akademi (1979), Jnanpith (1996) and Ramon Magsaysay (1996) awards, amongst several other literary honours. She was also awarded the Padmasree in 1986, for her activist work amongst dispossessed tribal communities. 

 

Sarmistha Dutta Gupta is an editor and a translator who has also acted in plays. 

Selected Works Of Mahasweta Devi
Fiction