In the Tale of Giribela, Giri had a daughter and called her Bela. Giri's husband was a low life swindler. And everyone, including her parents knew this. Yet, even after her husband Aulchand, disappeared for almost a year after their marriage, her parents still gave her to him. Even after he was proven a liar, a thief, and a swindler, they gave her to him. Her mother even comment on how she knows that he is lying to them, but how smooth he is with those lies as if she is impressed (1151). This tale evokes deep emotion and empathy for Giri. She makes a life with her husband and struggles hard while very young. When her husband sells her daughter to an unknown man she becomes undone with anger and sorrow. Bela was lost and no one seemed to care. They called it fate (1157). But Giri knew the truth.
“Giri sat silently with her eyes closed, leaning against the wall. Even in her better grief, the realization flashed through her mind that nobody was willing to worry about a girl child for very long. Perhaps she should not either. She too was a small girl once, and her father too gave her away to a subhuman husband without making sufficient inquiries. “ (1157)
A girl was property from the moment she was born. Giri did not like this, she did not approve. But she could not change anything. As wise and resourceful as she was, she was not a man. Mahasweta Devi used this tale as an illustration to the heart of a mother, the capabilities of a woman, and the injustices done to those in the lower cast. The separation of class and sex is so strong and so harsh that if a woman is poor, she is worse than poor due to the way she was born. Women held no value but to be wives to men. They held no purpose but to serve a man from birth, to her husband, to death. The fate of a girl should not be determined because she is a girl. Rather, let her make her own fate with her own choices, and not those of others who claim to own her.
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