Translating Myth into Metaphor: Reading Mahasweta Devi’s “Breast Giver” (Stanadayini)

Mahasweta Devi’s (1926-2016) current reputation as a writer rests largely on her own self-projection as champion of the tribal cause and decrier of class prejudices. Her literary image has also been reshaped by the efforts of Gayatri Chakravarty Spivak, whose translations and theoretical formulations seek to place Mahasweta in an international frame of theoretical postulations. Especially the subaltern studies by Spivak on Mahasweta Devi’s work gained her international fame which covers a large discourse on postcolonial criticism. In many of her works Mahasweta Devi has written on the subordination of women in Indian society. The idea of motherhood is a major theme in many of her writings. In the story Breast-Giver she translates and recreates the myth of mother Jashoda drawn from Mahabharata, completely altogether in a new light in the post-colonial India. This paper situates Devi’s artistic strategies within the broader frameworks of feminist and postcolonial studies, highlighting her ability to use myth not as a static narrative but as a living, contested tool for social critique. Through this lens, Devi’s storytelling becomes a subversive act: myth is not merely referenced but interrogated and transformed, enabling a powerful, historically grounded critique of gendered exploitation. The paper further talks about Devi’s idea of motherhood, the mythical significance and how a mother stands as a metaphor for the nation, India.