Mother of 1084

Mahasweta Devi · 1926–2016 · India

Originally Hajar Churashir Maa (Bengali)

Why it matters

A sheltered Calcutta housewife spends a single day finally grieving the son the police killed as a Naxalite, reconstructing his hidden revolutionary life through the people who knew him. An unflinching indictment of state violence refracted through one mother's arrival at truth.

At a glance

A compact single-day structure carries dense political and historical context about the Naxalite movement.