Mahasweta Devi's famous short story 'Draupadi' (1978) is a Bengali composition that has grown incredibly popular in recent years. The story mainly focuses on the life of a tribal Naxalite woman who fights for both her existence and for her people of marginalized sections. This famous thrilling story is translated into English by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. The narrative primarily exposed that Mahasweta Devi wanted her readers to feel the same experience through this text. But she speaks out against Indian feudalism and the government's lack of attitude in this tale. Except for Draupadi, there are some other Breast Stories (1997) which are also translated by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak like 'Breasts Giver' (2019) and 'Behind the Bodice' (2019). Exploitation, occlusion and patriarchal authority are the common themes throughout all these stories. In 'Draupadi', Devi delineates the violence, blockade and suppression which was endured by the protagonist Dopdi Mejhen. Dopdi, a Naxalite activist, in the 1970s, confronted authoritarianism, hegemony and the systems of male-dominated society. The murderer of Dopdi's husband- Dulna Mejhen, Senanayak, a rogue system of government machinery, becomes a threat not only to the female class but also to the marginalized sections by seeking the conditions of potential outcomes that knit the historical narrative. His ideas and inherent consistencies are visible in theory but not in practice. This paper aims to identify the strategic ways in which the female body might oppose violence and suppression in a patriarchal society.
Assistant Professor, Department of English, Dr. Meghnad Saha College, Ranipur, Itahar, West Bengal
