Dopdi, as the Leader of Subalterns (Analysis of the Character Dopdi, in Respect of the Hardships Faced)

The short story of “Draupadi” (Devi, 1997) written by Mahasveta Devi is a Bengali piece of work that has gained widespread popularity in the recent years. It highlights the life of a tribal Naxal woman who fights for her own cause and for her people who are the deprived class. The story is translated in the English version by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, narrates the way that she mentions about the loss of specific Bengali essence from the story while converting it into English. However, the story pretty much highlights the essence that Mahasveta devi wanted her readers to feel. The research on this topic will be covering a number of aspects regarding the leadership of a woman after so many hardships and the problems and oppression faced by them. The Naxalite movements that this particular group is a part of and along with that their fight against the oppressive higher class who have power in their hands, will be thoroughly analysed. The special analysis that this paper is going to witness is the comparison of the mythological celebrated woman, Draupadi of Mahabharata with the tribal Draupadi or Dopdi, as she likes to call herself, bringing into consideration the situations that both of them went through. Keeping this in mind there has been a lot of similar experiences and situations that can be safely assumed about the author that she specifically wanted her protagonist to go through.