Bitter Soil

Bitter Soil collects four of Mahasweta Devi’s most powerful stories—‘Salt’, ‘Seed’, ‘The Witch’ and ‘Little Ones’—all set in the Palamau District of Jharkhand, a region inhabited by adivasis where author had travelled extensively. As she says in her introduction, ‘My Palamau is a mirror of India.’ These harsh, hard-hitting pieces are, in her own words, amongst the most important of her prolific writing career. Written in the 1980s, they resonate with anger against the exploitation she witnessed firsthand as well as the complacent hypocrisy of the upper castes and classes. The stories remain as relevant today as they were decades ago.