The Unspoken Story: A Study of Mahasweta Devi’s “Draupadi”

Abstract

Abstract: Mahasweta Devi’s writing stands out as a powerful tool that subverts the authority of upper caste in tribal society, particularly marginalized women’s subjugation by society. Her writing questions the whole discourse of caste prejudice and women’s suppression. Suppression also means the objectivity of the female reproductive body for material purposes. She chooses the tribal women who are in many ways submerged by society and economy. Through Dopdi, Devi rearranges the gendered subaltern’s subject position from passive resistance to that of active militancy. The representation of the characters subsumes the main voices and in this process the narration becomes muddled with the narrator’s perspective. Devi’s texts voiced the voiceless and give an understanding about the caste, gender and class system. This paper is an attempt to reveal the unspoken story of the marginalized women through the pen of Mahasweta Devi.