Books by Mahasweta Devi

A picture book which unobtrusively raises questions of politics, gender and class within the context of a simple, positive story of a young tribal girl and her quest for learning.

It's the mid-to-late 1800s and the British have banished Wajid Ali Shah--the nawab of Awadh in Lucknow--to Calcutta. To the sound of the soulful melody of the sarangi, the mercurial courtesan Laayl-e Aasman is playing a dangerous game of love, loyalty, deception, and betrayal. Bajrangi and Kundan, bound by their love for each other and for Laayl-e, struggle to keep their balance. Ranging across generations and geography, the scale of Laayl-e's story sweeps the devil, a crime lord, and many other remarkable characters into a heady mix. Mirror of the Darkest Night is almost an aberration in Mahasweta Devi's oeuvre. Known for her activism and hard-hitting indictment of social inequalities, she pays close attention to detail in this sparkling novel. It offers a rare glimpse of Devi's talent for telling the sort of story she normally eschewed--and it's a cracker of a tale.

A novel that focuses on the trauma of a mother who awakens one morning to the shattering news that her son is lying dead in the morgue and her struggle to understand his decision to be a Naxalite.

Focuses on the trauma of a mother who awakens one morning to the shattering news that her son is lying dead in the morgue and her struggle to understand his decision to be a Naxalite.

Collects such stories as - "Fisherman", "Knife", "Body," and "Killer". This title contextualizes the stories within the development of the growing criminal underworld in Bengal.

The wide sweep of this important novel encompasses many layers. It ranges over decades in the life of Chotti - the central character - in which India moves from colonial rule to independence and then to the unrest of the 1970s.

Weaving history, myth and current political realities, these three stories by Bengali writer Mahasweta Devi explore troubling motifs in contemporary Indian life. Both delicate and violent, Devi's stories map the experiences of the "tribals" and tribal life during decolonization.