Women and Body Politics: A Study of Select Short Stories of Mahasweta Devi

When discussing feminist issues, Mahasweta Devi is a force to be reckoned with. Women’s oppression is a recurrent theme in her writing as she strives to bring about justice for women. Patriarchal ideology has created its own discourse around a woman’s body. In a patriarchal society, a woman’s body is not just something made of flesh and blood, which solely belongs to her. Instead, it is seen as a site where age-old patriarchal ideologies are imposed upon to oppress, shame, and control women. The politics involving the female body is a burning issue in a patriarchal society. This article deals with three powerful short stories by Devi, namely, “Draupadi”, “Breast Giver,” and “Behind the Bodice: Choli ke Picche,” where she highlights the suffering of women because of being victims of body politics. The protagonists are oppressed because of their bodies. Their bodies are used and abused to serve patriarchy’s purpose. Despite coming from different social strata of society, they suffer because of their bodies. Devi also presents two of her protagonists as resisting this oppression by using their very own abused bodies.