SOCIAL CONCERNS IN MAHASHWETA DEVI’S MOTHER OF 1084

Abstract

Mahasweta Devi is known not only for her political writings but her tremendous contribution towards landless laborers in eastern India where she worked for years. Her close connection with these communities gave her a deep insight to understand and write about these grassroots-level issues, thus making her a socio-political commentator of the marginalized community. As an eminent Bengali writer and social activist, writing in the mid-1900s, she did not shy away from pointing out the injustices prevalent in society. This paper deals with her novel titled ‘Mother of 1084’ and depicts the helplessness of a mother who gets acquainted with her son’s ideal after his death. The trauma of the tragic death of her son haunts her throughout the novel and makes her an aggrieved mother. The novel honestly depicts the trauma and psychological disturbances of a mother who has lost her son. ‘Mother of 1084’ at one end openly criticized the brutality of the government and the police in counteracting the Naxalite movement, while on the other end highlighted the political consciousness of a mother. It portrays many aspects of Indian society as well as the political state of West Bengal in the seventies where youth were ruthlessly suppressed by the government. The present paper also explores how she belongs to a male-dominated society that considers women as an object of sex, neglected and subjugated beings, and how she revolts against the traditional established system and trembles the base of that rotten society.