Bitter Soil

Bitter Soil brings together four stories by Mahasweta Devi: 'Salt', 'Seed', 'The Witch' and 'Little Ones'. All are set in the Palamau District of Jharkhand, a region inhabited by adivasis, where the author travelled extensively. In her introduction she calls her Palamau a mirror of India.

Written in the 1980s, the stories are harsh and hard-hitting, and Devi counts them among the most important of her prolific career. They are angry about the exploitation she saw firsthand and about the self-satisfied hypocrisy of the upper castes and classes. They remain as relevant now as when they were written.