Reading Mahasweta Devi’s Aranyer Adhikar Ecocritically

The novel Aranyer Adhikar by Mahasweta Devi is well-known due to its highbrow status of ecological consciousness. This study tries to scrutinize the novel Aranyer Adhikar from an ecocritical perspective. The researcher has deployed a close textual analysis approach to conduct this qualitative study. This novel incorporates and highlights the political struggles of the “de-notified” Munda tribes of India based on ecology. Ecocriticism challenges the anthropocentric attitude of human beings. The Indian Munda tribes relinquish their land due to the anthropocentric attitude of the colonizers and the local authorities. They have suffered environmental ruination as a consequence of colonial violence and exploitation. Moreover, the tribals face the threat of losing the traditional household wisdom of living pleasantly with nature. Additionally, in Aranyer Adhikar, Devi brings out the sufferings of the different tribes, such as Kol and Santhals, who have been socio-politically pauperized by the loss of forest land. It can be pointed out that Aranyer Adhikar is about striving for the social, economic and political freedom of the different tribes in India. Substantially, Mahasweta Devi records the “voices of tribal history” and offers “striking narratives” of the tribal rights over the forest