90-year-old Mahasweta Devi was suffering from kidney and lung ailments.
Eminent author and social activist Mahasweta Devi died in Kolkata today after a short illness. She was 90.
The Jnanpith, Padma Vibhushan and Magsaysay awardee had been suffering from age-related illness for a long time and had been admitted in the hospital for around two months.
Expressing his condolences, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted:
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted:
Mahasweta Devi was known for a lifetime of dedicated work for the welfare of tribals in different parts of India - especially lodhas and shabars.
"The reason and inspiration for my writing," she had said, "are those people who are exploited and used, and yet do not accept defeat".
In recent years, she raised her voice against forcible land acquisition in Singur and Nandigram. "My India," she once said, "still lives behind a curtain of darkness". Over the years, several of her novels have been turned into films. Award winning films
Hazar Chaurasi ki Ma and
Rudali were based on her novels.
Her other literary landmarks,
Aranyer Adhikar or The Occupation of the Forest,
Imaginary Maps, Breast Givers, Our Non-Veg Cow, won her every literary award in India, the Padma Vibhushan and the Magsaysay.