Imaginary Maps

This book collects three of Mahasweta Devi's most outstanding works of contemporary Indian fiction: The Hunt tells of a tribal daughter who kills her mainstream exploiter-cum-potential rapist as part of the Jani Parab, when every 13th year it is the turn of the women to perform the srping festival of the hunt; Douloti, one of the author's most probing exposures of bondslavery in India; Pterodactyl, Puran Sahay, and Pirtha, tells of a tribal community, drought-stricken and destitute, confronts a pterodactyl that appears to them as the discontented soul of their ancestors, and a concerned journalist bears witness to the encounter - till the prehistoric bird dies. A long interview with the author and two tests by the translator follow the stories.