Tears as a survival motif: A reading of Mahasweta Devi’s Rudali

Abstract

Marginalisation is the process of treating a person, a group or society to the corner by giving least importance. In this social phenomenon, the subordinated group is ignored from the mainstream society along with their desires and needs. Women were the most subordinated group from early times labelled them as the weakest gender; and the plight of lower caste women from olden time remains to be same as double marginalisation. They were not allowed to participate in any means with the remaining dominated crew. Their suppression, in the name of caste as well as gender was the issue that abscond them from the mainstream society. In such situation, woman use various strategies for their survival. This paper aims to limelight the protagonist Sanichari, a poor low caste village woman from the short story Rudali(1997) by the recipient of Sahitya Akademi Award(1979) and Jnanpith Award(1996) Padma Shri Mahasweta Devi, who use tears as a medium for earning and livelihood which used as medium for survival.