Who is Mahasweta Devi? today's Google Doodle

Google Doodle, the search giant on Sunday celebrated the 92nd birth anniversary of Mahasweta Devi, the Indian Bengali fiction writer and social activist who was honoured with the Jnanpith Award in 1996. She worked for the rights and empowerment of the tribal people (Lodha and Shabar) of West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Mahasweta was born in 1926 in Dhaka in undivided Bengal. Her father, Manish Ghatak, was a renowned poet and novelist. Ghatak's youngest brother was noted film-maker Ritwik Ghatak.

Mahasweta's mother, Dharitri Devi, was also a writer and a social worker. Her initial schooling was in Dhaka, but after the Partition, she moved to West Bengal in India. She joined the Vishvabharati University in Santiniketan and completed her B.A. (Hons) in English. She also pursued her M.A. in English from Calcutta University.

Mahasweta's first book, 'Jhansir Rani' (The Queen of Jhansi), was published in 1956. Over the years she had published collections of short stories and close to a hundred novels, primarily in Bengali. A regular contributor to many literary magazines, she also worked as an English lecturer at the Calcutta University.

Among her other masterpieces are 'Haazar Churasi Kimau', 'Rudali', 'Bioscopes' and 'Chatti Munda O Tan Ti' . 'Hazaar Churasi Kimau' has been translated into a film starring Jaya Bachchan as well.

Mahasweta died at the age of 90 in Kolkata's Belle Vue Clinic hospital, because of the multiple organ failure.

OneIndia News