Mahasweta Devi's Rudali

A Study of Struggle for Survival in Mahasweta Devi’s Rudali

INTRODUCTION

Mahasweta Devi was an Indian Bengali fiction writer and a social activist. Rudali is one of her most celebrated works. In most of her works, Mahasweta Devi has tried to tackle and address the turbulances of caste, gender and class in the historic context of the Brahmanic caste patriarchy. Even after assuming an occupational class status, the ‘rudalis’ transform themselves into a gendered caste, specifically a low caste of ‘whores’. This could be identified as central tension or contradiction in the social practices of Mahasweta’s fiction and her narrative praxis.

Rudali ‘the female weeper’ is a custom in certain areas of Rajasthan where women of lower cast are hired as professional mourners upon the death of wealthy upper class men. Professional mourning has a long tradition in parts of India and in Rajasthan. It is seen as important to give the deceased person a good funeral so

Sanichari and Bikhni represents the pattern of living of all the dalit woman which is almost same for a long time. Hence their evolutionary development does not promise any big bang reforms in their lives. This woman in rudali does not fall in the category of pure subalterns because these are women with vision. However because of lots of oppressions they couldn’t progress fast. Even though India is the 4th biggest economy its resources are not distributed equally. It is ironical that a handful of dalit woman compete for the executive and political arena while most of them compete for bare survival. In 21st century India women came out of their stereotypical images but still dalits women are bounded by the caste and gender problems. Sanichari and Bikhni take the job of rudali for their bare survival that can be termed as the travesty of human