Rudali by Mahasweta Devi is a powerful short story that tracks the life of Sanichari, poor, low-cast woman, who lives in a feudal village called Tahad. The story brings out her lifetime struggles in the context of poverty, social injustice and personal sorrow.
“Rudalis” are a “professional mourners” hired by the upper-caste landlords to mourn on funerals. Though Sanichari has become a professional rudali, never is she given a chance to mourn in her life.
Rudali by Mahasweta Devi Summary
Sanichari’s Early Life
Sanichari is born on a Saturday that is considered inauspicious (hence her name), and is constantly blamed for all misfortunes in her life, whether big or small. Her father passes away shortly after she is born, and her mother abandons her.
She is married off at a young age to a man from the same Ganju tribe. Her married life becomes even more difficult. Her husband is a sick mam and dies early. She stays with her mother-in-law and later raises her only son Budhua alone.
Sanichari’s life is a series of silent sufferings. Her mother-in-law passes away. Her son Budhua gets married to a woman who quickly leaves him and runs off. Tuberculosis kills Budhua. Despite all these tragedies in her life, Sanichari does not shed tears. Not that she is strong, but because poverty leaves her no time or space to wail.
Discovery of the Rudali Tradition
Sanichari is devastated after the death of her son and becomes all alone. She encounters an old lady named Bhikhni, and she turns out to her old friend and the two become close companions soon.
They get to understand one day that the rich landlords in the village pay off women, known as rudalis, to wail loudly at their funeral. The landlords desire to demonstrate to the population how much they were deeply loved, though they were bad people in their lives.
To Sanichari and Bhikhni, this is shocking and also practical. To women like them who have suffered in silence, it becomes a source of income as they are paid to cry. The irony is very sharp, Sanichari could never cry over her real pain, but now she must cry very loudly for strangers to earn money.
Beginning A New Life
Slowly Bhikhni and Sanichari start to work as rudalis. They weep at the funerals of powerful men, where large displays of grief are expected. Sanichari gets paid and a bit of respect for the first time in her life, not by concealing her grief, but by performing it.
Nevertheless, life is not easier. Bhikhni gets ill and dies. Sanichari is again left alone. However, instead of breaking down, she gets resolute to continue the work. She visits brothels and other villages to convince other unfortunate and abandoned women, including her own daughter-in-law, to join into forming a group of rudalis.
Triumphant End
In the end of the story, Sanichari transforms from a helpless widow to a strong and practical leader. She begins to train other women in how to cry and mourn in public, turning pain into a profession. She has now found this role as not only as a means of survival, but also as a struggle against the inhuman society that has never perceived women in her position as equals.
The novel closes with this sourly ironic yet triumphant note: Sanichari, unable to weep over the death of her own family members, now presides over other women in weeping professionally at the deaths of the same landlords who oppressed them.
Rudali: A Critical Appreciation
Mahasweta Devi’s Rudali (1979) is set in Tahad, a small village in Chhota Nagpur, Bihar. The story takes place in a deeply patriarchal and caste-ridden rural society, where the upper-caste landlords, the Malliks and Mahajans, control the lives of the lower castes. The central character, Sanichari, is a Ganju tribal woman, born into poverty and oppression. The title “Rudali” refers to professional women mourners, hired to cry at funerals of rich men to publicly display grief.
Early Life of Sanichari
Sanichari’s life is filled with misfortune from the very start. Her name itself, derived from “Shani” or Saturday, is considered unlucky by villagers. She is seen as a bearer of bad luck, and every tragedy in her life is blamed on this superstition. Her father dies early, her mother deserts her, and she is married off at a young age to a sickly man from the same caste. Her marriage offers no comfort or escape from poverty.
Soon, her husband dies, leaving Sanichari with a young son, Budhua, to raise on her own. She bears her grief silently and focuses on survival. Even during these early years, the pattern of abandonment, grief, and toil becomes clear in her life.
A Life of Endless Suffering
Sanichari’s only support is Budhua, her son. She struggles to raise him alone, doing all she can to feed and clothe him. As Budhua grows, she places all her hopes in him. He marries, but his wife soon abandons the family and runs away with a group of travelling performers.
This betrayal is painful, but Sanichari continues to live on. Things become worse when Budhua becomes ill and dies of tuberculosis, leaving behind a young son, Haroa. Once again, Sanichari is left with nothing but grief and responsibility. Despite the immense personal losses, her parents, husband, daughter-in-law, and now her son, she never cries. This is not due to strength, but because poverty has hardened her, stealing her ability to express emotion.
The Meeting with Bhikhni
After Budhua’s death, Sanichari is left all alone with Haroa. As time passes, even Haroa leaves, running away like his mother. In her loneliness, Sanichari unexpectedly meets Bhikhni, a woman from her past. Bhikhni has also suffered in similar ways — her husband is gone, her son has abandoned her, and she lives in isolation.
The two women quickly form a bond. Their shared experiences bring comfort. Living together in Sanichari’s hut, they share their pain and responsibilities. For the first time, Sanichari finds companionship and emotional safety in another woman.
Learning About Rudalis
Through the village elder Dulan, they learn about the practice of rudalis, women who are paid to cry at funerals. In the upper-caste world, public mourning is a sign of honour, and it is expected that a landlord’s funeral should be filled with loud weeping. But most women in such families are not capable of this, especially after lives of luxury and detachment.
So, they hire women from the lower castes, even prostitutes, to perform grief. Dulan tells Sanichari and Bhikhni that mourning can be a profession, and they should take it up. This advice changes their lives.
Becoming Professional Mourners
Sanichari and Bhikhni accept their first job as rudalis at the funeral of Bhairab Singh, one of the powerful Malliks. They weep loudly and convincingly, drawing praise. For this, they receive rice, cloth, and money, more than they could ever earn otherwise.
This marks a turning point. They discover a way to survive within the very system that has crushed them. Crying, once seen as a sign of weakness, is now turned into strength, a way of reclaiming dignity and food without shame.
Turning Pain into a Business
Their mourning is not just for survival, but becomes a kind of revenge. They cry at the funerals of men who never cared for their suffering, yet now need them to prove their family honour. The irony is clear: the same society that humiliated them now depends on their performance.
Sanichari and Bhikhni begin to charge set rates for different types of mourning. They ask for rice, oil, salt, and fixed cash payments. Their self-confidence grows. Soon, they are in demand. The act of mourning becomes a means of economic freedom.
Death of Bhikhni and Sanichari’s Rise
Tragedy strikes again. One day, Bhikhni goes to attend a marriage but never returns. Sanichari later learns that Bhikhni is dead. This loss is devastating. But this time, Sanichari does not collapse.
She decides to carry on their work alone. She knows she cannot return to a life of hunger. Instead, she takes the bold step of going to the red-light district, where prostitutes live in poverty. She encourages them to become rudalis.
Among these women is her daughter-in-law, now a prostitute. Sanichari reaches out to her too, and teaches her how to turn sorrow into livelihood.
Creating a Rudali Union
With more women joining her, Sanichari becomes the leader of a group of professional mourners. She trains them how to weep, how to act, and how to demand fair pay. What began as a painful experience turns into an organised survival network for outcast women.
They mourn at the funerals of the same Malliks who once abused, raped, or discarded them. These upper-caste men die with loud wails performed by the very women they destroyed. Grief becomes a commodity, and for Sanichari, it becomes a weapon of power.
A Final Act of Defiance
The climax comes with the death of Gambhir Singh, a powerful landlord who ruined many women. Sanichari brings hundreds of rudalis to mourn at his funeral. The act is filled with bitter irony. The man who once dictated the fate of poor women is now honoured by their performance of grief, a grief that is completely false but powerful.
Through this act, Sanichari and her group reclaim their dignity. Their tears, though staged, are filled with truth, the truth of survival, resistance, and justice.
The Strength in Sorrow
In the end, Sanichari does not escape her reality. She still lives in the same caste-bound society. But she finds a way to live with honour. Her tears become her tools. Her sorrow becomes her business. She lifts other women with her and becomes a symbol of silent rebellion.
Through Rudali, Mahasweta Devi shows that even the most marginalised women can rise, not by dreaming of another world, but by turning pain into power in the world they already live in.
Rudali by Mahasweta Devi Characters
Sanichari
Sanichari is Rudali’s protagonist. She is a lower-caste woman, born on a Saturday (hence her name), which in her village is seen as inauspicious. People call her “unlucky”, and her life is in fact full of suffering marked by poverty, death, abandonment, and betrayal.
She has already lost her mother-in-law, her brother-in-law, her husband and afterward her son, Budhua. She is saddled with responsibilities and debts at every stage, leaving her no time to grieve. People accuse her of being “heartless” for not crying, but she is simply too occupied with survival.
In spite of all this, Sanichari is not weak. She is silently powerful. Her transformation into a professional mourner (rudali) shows her ability to turn sorrow into strength. Her experience helps her understand how to utilize the funerals of the higher caste so that she could earn something to gain some control over her own life.
Guided by Dulan and supported by Bikhni, Sanichari finally becomes a rudali leader and thereby other helpless women are also given dignity and livelihood in a socially accepted form of emotional labour. Sanichari’s life is that of silent resistance and economic survival.
Bikhni: The Faithful Friend
Bikhni is long-lost friend of Sanichari. She is a widow of lower caste and has suffered a lot like Sanichari. She is left alone after her husband’s death and her son has gone to live with his in-laws and forgotten her.
When Bikhni meets Sanichari again, they become close friends. They live together and share their struggles, losses and memories. The company of Bikhni brings comfort to Sanichari’s lonely life. The two turn out to be partners in life and most importantly working companions.
Bikhni accompanies Sanichari in becoming a rudali. The two of them perform at funerals and gradually earn a livelihood from this unusual job. Bikhni is a faithful, dedicated and emotionally sensitive person.
Unfortunately Bikhni dies soon, leaving Sanichari alone again. Bikhni is the symbolism of emotional support that women give each other in a world that always tries to suppress them.
Dulan
Dulan is a significant character who is a mentor and a social thinker. He is a member of the same community but is clever and aware of the existing social injustices. He observes how the high castes would use customs and rituals to exploit the poor, mainly the women.
Dulan is the first one to propose to Sanichari and Bikhni that they should become rudalis. He teaches them that their tears, regarded as a sign of weakness, can become a profession. He awakens their senses about the hypocrisy of the society – how prostitutes are being used, mistreated and dumped but they are required to serve upper-caste rituals.
He also tells them to join other helpless women like widows and prostitutes, and form a group to help each other. He does not only provide ideas to the people but helps to develop confidence and courage.
Mahasweta Devi introduces a voice of awareness in Dulan, a sort of social consciousness of society through which the voiceless people can speak up. He is not a hero in the traditional sense, but a catalyst for change.
Budhua, Sanichari’s son
Budhua is the only son of Sanichari. He provides her a sort of comfort and joy. When he grows up, he begins to playing the role of a responsible man of the house, by planting vegetables in his yard. His presence fills the house with life.
He gets married and his wife runs away with a band of some wandering performers. She later turns into a prostitute. Budhua is again left alone with Sanichari. He too dies sometime later, leaving his young son, Haroa, in the hands Sanichari.
Budhua is the symbol of the feeble hopes of the poor that often disappear just when they begin sprouting. His death is another significant incident in the life of Sanichari, but she does not shed a tear though. It is one more layer of grief that she hides in silence.
Haroa, The Grandson
Haroa is the son of Budhua and grandson of Sanichari. Upon the death of Budhua, Sanichari rears Haroa through the assistance of the family of Dulan. For a short while, he works under a man named Lachman Singh, but later he also leaves Sanichari and runs away with the same magic-show people, like his mother did.
Haroa’s disappearance hurts Sanichari deeply. She searches for him, but he is never found. He represents the next generation’s escape from misery, but he also symbolises abandonment and the never-ending loneliness in Sanichari’s life.
Budhua’s wife
Budhua’s wife is not named, however, her role is vital. She gets married into poverty but she soon realises that she does not want to suffer like Sanichari. She runs away with travelling performers and leaves her child and husband behind.
She later turns out into a prostitute and sells her body in exchange of coins. Her life reflects the tragic fate of many lower-caste women, who, in desperation, make choices that offer short-term escape but only suffering and anguish in the long run. Sanichari does not blame her, and she is just a victim of her circumstances trying to survive in her own way.
Malliks and Mahajans
The upper-caste landlords like Bhairab Singh and Gambhir Singh are shown as the faces of power, money and brutality. They abuse poor women, hire prostitutes to satisfy their pleasure and then dump them.
Such men also demand expensive funeral ceremonies so that they can secure their social status. Ironically, they have to rely on women like Sanichari and Bikhni, people whom they had oppressed, to perform the mourning rituals.
The hypocrisy of these influential families gets revealed all through the story. They are ready to spend large amount of money on religious and social functions, yet they do nothing to the welfare of the people working for them.
Prostitutes (Randis)
Prostitutes or randis form the biggest group of marginalised women in the novel. Many of them have been pushed into sex work by these very landlords who now ignore them. They barely make a living and live a secluded life as people regard them as impure and untouchable.
Most of these women turn rudalis under the leadership Sanichari. They get an opportunity to make money, food, and respect without selling their bodies. This is the first time that they can unite together as a community and support one another.
Sanichari shows them that their destiny is not already written and that they can always find the meaning and value in what the society claims is rather shameful.
Ramavatar Singh
He is a landowner who lends Sanichari 20 rupees only to force her into five years of bonded labour to repay it. He symbolizes the predatory and oppressive financial system that keeps poor women in never-ending bondage to people like him.
Tohri and Tahad Pandas
They are religious priests who exploit the poor people during funerals by charging money to perform funeral rituals. They are not spiritual guides, instead, part of a system that commercialises grief and makes people like Sanichari slide further into debt.
Lachman Singh
He employs Haroa, grandson of Sanichari, for a short time. Although he is not the main character, he shows how little value is placed on the lives of the poor. Haroa’s decision to quit the job shows that there is no lasting security in such jobs.