Body As A Site Of Subaltern Subversion In Mahasweta Devi’s ‘Draupadi’ And ‘Behind The Bodice: Choli Ke Picche’

Abstract

The research paper probes into the complex socio-political systems operating on the female body which becomes the site for subaltern resistance and empowerment in the attempt to overthrow oppressive systems. The government policies and their alleged development projects are brought under severe scrutiny that have encroached upon and disrupted traditional ways of life of the tribal and rural populace. While exploitation, oppression and resistance remain at the helm in subaltern scholarship, body politics also seem to occupy a prominent place. It strives to delve deep into the value codes of the cultural and social settings apropos female body and the systemic politics bred in aesthetics, archivization and cumulative disadvantage. The implication of mainstream history requiring the need for recognising and studying the contributions and mass presence of the oppressed women characters in both the narratives is instrumental to bring home an understanding of their agency, undermining discourses on victimization while making strides towards a non-negotiation for discursive formations. All forms of state apparatuses including print and television media, law enforcement agency, language politics are put in the dock in the hands of Devi.