Question

write a note about mahasweta devi's "draupadi"? (10markes)​

Answer 1

Answer:

The Hindu mythology of the subaltern female body which is never questioned and only ever exploited is rejected by Devi. For Goddess Durga in her form of Sati, ‘a good wife,’ self-immolates her body in pain over her father’s abuse of her husband, Lord Shiva. Enraged, Lord Shiva dances over the universe with Sati’s body on his shoulder. Lord Vishnu then dismembers her body, and her body parts are strewn over the universe. Each relic of Sati’s body becomes a place for worship and pilgrimage. Also in the Mahabharata, Draupadi’s marriage to all the Pandavas and her re- is another way in which the female body is exploited. In both, the case of Durga and Draupadi, what happens to their body is a result of patriarchal voices which denies them agency.

The character of Dopdi allows us to view the subaltern’s identity vis-à-vis the hegemonic structures seen through the policemen and Officer Senanayek. Thus, Dopdi’s body becomes a site of both the exertion of authoritarian power and of gendered resistance. Dopdi bears the torture as she is raped by many men through the encouragement of the voice of another man Arijit, that urges her to save her comrades and not herself. However, the attack on her body fades this male authority’s voice as she candidly reacts to the police. Her refusal to be clothed goes against the phallocentric power, and the exploitation of her body gives her the agency to step away from the hegemonic patriarchy of the policemen.