TRIBAL SUSTENANCE AND SURVIVAL: POSTCOLONIAL ECOFEMINISM IN MAHASWETA DEVI’S CHOTTI MUNDA AND HIS ARROW

Abstract

Mahasweta Devi, as an activist and renowned writer devotes herself to write about the tribal. Through her writings she shows her concern over the rights of the oppressed tribal communities as well all the sections of the society who are mute. Even she delivers social messages through her fictional works. She ponders that as a writer it is her duty to capture their struggles in her writings so that their histories cannot vanish. In the novel Chotti Munda and His Arrow, translated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Mahasweta Devi shows her attention over the sustenance and survival of the tribal who are not only very intimate with nature and the culture of archery but also know how to survive in spite of being exploited by the landlords and money lenders. Even, the tribals are enriched with ecological wisdom which is very unique. All of her writings are impregnated with the tribal ecology, their struggle and survival. This paper intends to focus on the various types of exploitation from the viewpoint of postcolonial ecofeminism.