Mahasweta devi bengali short stories pdf download

With the ancient epic Mahabharat as her source, and the battle of Kurukshetra as a central motif, Mahasweta Devi weaves three stories in which we visit unexpected alleys and by-lanes of the traditional epic saga, and look at events from the eyes of women marginalized, dispossessed, dalit.

Their eyes condemn the wanton waste and inhumanity of war. This Kurukshetra is not the legendary Dharmayuddha of the popular imagination but rather a cold-blooded power game sacrificing countless human lives.

Mahasweta devi bengali short stories pdf download free

How do the women s quarters of the palace, a colourless place of shadowy widowhood, appear to five peasant women whose lives are no less shattered by the Kurukshetra massacre, but who are used to dealing with trauma in a more robust manner?

How does their outlook on life and survival influence the young pregnant princess who is abruptly plunged into the half-life of uppercaste widowhood? How does a lower caste serving woman, who was brought in to service king Dhritarashtra