• Ravi Bhatt
• Parvanshi Sharma

In the post-independence India, where the movement of feminism is still paving its way and the women empowerment projects are adopted by the contemporary authors, Mahasweta Devi, a Bengali writer, is determined to put the focus on the sufferings and exploitation of women, particularly, the tribal women. Through her literary writings, she is dedicatedly giving voice to the otherwise unheard section in the social order of signification- the voices of the tribals of India. She is concerned for tribals who are forced to live at the fringes and further she is tracing the plight of women who are bread-earners, bonded labourers, victims of male sexual violence and ill-treated wives. In the present paper, an attempt is made to study two stories written by Devi “Shanichari and “Dhouli” underlining the complex relationship between women’s oppression and the socio-political, economic and cultural power structures operative in society. She has depicted and represented at length the nexus between the social mechanisms and natural ‘sex’ which are responsible for establishing patriarchal order and gender categorization in a society and which further contribute in the multi-facet exploitation of the tribal women in that society. Rape and prostitution are the recurring motifs in these stories. Along with the theme and cause of oppression, Devi has depicted a sense of outrage in women. There are images of women who have courage and determination to serve as role models. She has portrayed tribal women in a new way as assertive individuals.Although, the expressions of melancholy, disquiet, and anger appear to be responses of individual women characters in the stories, these expressions have roots in the society to which they belong- the specific mode of production, the governing economic structure which regulates the activity of men and women in a decisive way.

exploitation, gender, nexus, patriarchal, sex and tribal.

"Mahasweta Devi's "Dhouli" and "Shanichari" A Gender Study in Terms of Sexist, Economic and Cultural Elements", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 12, page no.934-945, June-2020, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRDT06149.pdf

"Mahasweta Devi's "Dhouli" and "Shanichari" A Gender Study in Terms of Sexist, Economic and Cultural Elements", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.5, Issue 12, page no. pp934-945, June-2020, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIRDT06149.pdf