Deconstructing Patriarchy: Study of Mahashveta Devi’s Draupadi

Abstract

India’s literary tradition has a vast history, immense linguistic diversity and extensive variety of genres. Amid its huge corpus lies another emerging literary form called Tribal or ‘Adivasi’ Literature. Tribal literature has its roots in the earliest of Indian literatures and mythologies and has always been delivered orally among aboriginals’ communities. However, the written versions came into vogue with the writers who have taken to write not only in tribal languages but in English too. Therefore, Tribal literature is old, rich, orally transferred literary tradition of a culture which may be thousands of years old but still full of vigour, colour and life. Mahashveta Devi, Arun Joshi, Kamala Markandaya, Manohar Malgonkar, Gita Mehta and some others are few Indian English writers who have dealt with the theme of Tribal India in their writings.