Rudali from Fiction to Performance  (English, Paperback, Devi Mahasweta)

Rudali is the story of Shanichari, a woman who was abandoned by her mother soon after her father’s death. When she is abandoned and let down by her alcoholic husband, she is left with nothing else to do but seek for a better future for her mentally challenged son and herself.

Summary of the Book

In certain areas of Rajasthan, women were hired as professional weepers. They were referred to as Rudalis. Their work was to mourn in public for families that hired them for the job. In this story, Shanichari is a woman who has faced many difficulties in life. Apart from her father’s death and her mother eventually leaving her to fend for herself, she was married to a man who failed to be a responsible husband. However, she has never cried for anything her entire life. NoW, she seeks a better life for her mentally challenged son and herself, and has found a job as a Rudali. This proves difficult for her as she does not know how to cry. Soon, she and a local landlord’s son fall in love with each other, but she refuses to ask him for financial help and ruin their love for the sake of money.

About Mahasweta Devi

Mahasweta Devi is an Indian social activist and writer. She was born to literary parents in Dhaka in the year 1926. She taught at Bijoygarh College in the year 1964. She had also worked as a creative writer and journalist during this time. She is well-known for her work related to the study of the women and Dalits of the Lodhas and Shabars tribal communities in West Bengal. An activist who was dedicated to the struggles of the tribal people of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, she has often depicted the brutal oppression of these people and the untouchables by authoritarian upper-caste landlords, lenders and venal government officials.