~~~ The mother of compassion & understanding ~~~. Review on Hajar Churashir Ma - Mahasweta Devi

What is the image one hold of mother?? Mother is nature’s response to a situation. When there is reason for joy, she will be the one who first laugh out. When there is a reason for sorrow, her tears will hit the ground first. When in need of protection, she is the typical mother cat. The proud mother, confident mother & the mother of compassion! In her novel ‘Hajar Churashir Ma’, the Jnanapeeth award winner Mahasweta Devi narrates the story of a mother who tries to understand her son, who dies as a naxal fighter.

The novel is inspired by Maxim Gorky’s famous novel ‘Mother’ which was filmed by Vsevolod Pudovkin and released in the year 1926, the year Mahasweta Devi was born. The mother of Pudovkin become a martyr, where Mahasweta Devi’s ‘mother’ limit herself to the understanding of her son and pass this knowledge to the readers.

Sujata is an unhappy wife and mother, where her husband, Dibyanath uses her only to give birth to their children. The children do not care for her, except Brati. Brati was an unwanted child to Sujata. However, when the mother in her could not hate him and he turned to be the only hope of her. One day, she got a shocking news that Brati was brutally murdered as his was a Naxal. Using the power, Dibyanath prevented the news flashing through paper etc., and consider him as a closed chapter. Sujata on the other hand, tried to live in the memory of the son and tried to understand her son’s decision to choose such a path and those images become close to the mother.

The novel clearly serves two purposes. One: It gives different faces of a ‘mother’ and two: the grave situation which gives birth to the naxal movement and the need to give human consideration to them are stressed.

Understanding, loving, angry, confident, rebel, one who seeks justice…different faces of mother is beautifully pictured in the novel. The climax of the novel clearly shows the ignorant response the motherly feelings receive in an unjust society. At the same time, the mother of Mahasweta Devi is a failure, if we look at the ordinary day standards. She do not succeed in keeping his husband only to her, could not prevent her children from getting spoiled. Here, the author’s merit is to give a believable account which generates empathy in readers.

The reason how a naxal movement get its roots is clearly mentioned with few incidents. When the very basic needs of the oppressed are denied they are left with no option. How far they will suffer? For naxals, they don’t even get sympathy at home as they don’t consider the situations leading to it. (Personally I don’t believe in giving sympathy to people who take other people’s life by force, whatever may be the justification. I however completely agree that the deep rooted problems of the poor need urgent and important attention from all corners of administration.) Conditions Sujata faces at Somu’s house (Another naxal who died with Brati) and the sad state of Nandini (Girl friend of Brati) after brutal torture is heartening.

The two sides of harsh reality are shown in the novel beautifully. The rich and poor – the irony of their life styles and value system is well described. The value of sacrifice and the ignorance of the powerful – the novel is an eye opener for who have eyes. The novel raises a question before us, ‘Those boys, don’t they deserve a little more humanity from us? Don’t they deserve a chance to change?’

A thought provoking novel, worth reading!

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There is a film made, based on the novel, Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa, acted by Jaya Bachchan, Anupam Kher, Joy Sengupta, Seema Biswas & Nandita Das.