LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 24:2 February 2024
ISSN 1930-2940

Editors:
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

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Exploitation of a Woman: A Case Study of Mahasweta Devi’s Play Bayen

Sumitra Meghwal, Ph.D. Research Scholar


Courtesy: https://www.seagullbooks.org/five-plays/#details

Abstract

Mahasweta Devi is a legendary figure among the Indian Writers. She is one of the greatest contemporary writers, who used to write in Bangla. Till the last breath of her life, Mahasweta Devi raises her voice against illiteracy, displacement, ignorance, and other issues related to exploitation. Mahasweta Devi’s play Bayen exposes exploitation of women, caste, and gender. I would like to discuss the situation of a lower caste woman Chandidasi and gender discrimination in this play. In this play, there are many dimensions, where women are shown as victims.

This paper attempts to see the struggling woman figure in Mahasweta Devi’s play Bayen and discuss how a lower caste woman is accused as a Bayen and separated from her son and family.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the identity of a woman, which is constructed by the society and fake beliefs of society.

Keywords: Mahasweta Devi, Exploitation, Gender, Feminism, Mother, Caste, Woman, Bayen.

Mahasweta Devi

Mahasweta Devi was born in middle class family in 1926 at Dhaka. Mahasweta Devi is famous for works especially for women and tribal community and poor peoples, who have accused of exploitation. Mahasweta Devi’s play Bayen was published in 1957 and translated by Samik Bandhyopadhyay. The play Bayen is one of the best creations among her works. Chandidasi the main character of this play is being accused of a Bayen, who breastfeeds dead children and she also has the ability to curse others. This play deals with superstitions, where a woman is being accused a Bayen and separated from her son and her family as well as from the community by community people because of their blind faith. This shows how sick our society is. In this play we also find glimpses of patriarchal systems.

In many rural areas of India, women are always victims of injustice and gender discrimination, and they have to be live in the male dominated system. When we read Mahasweta Devi’s play Bayen, we can find these types of discrimination, where a lower caste woman named Chandidasi struggles with superstitions and the sick mentality of people.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Sumitra Meghwal
Ph.D. Research Scholar
Department of Slavonic and Finno-Ugrian Studies
University of Delhi, Delhi
sumitra.jnu@gmail.com
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