The Armenian Champa Tree

Mato is a young Buno tribal boy of ten who is the despair of his mother because he spends all his time daydreaming instead of doing the useful things Buno boys are meant to do. He is completely devoted to his pet baby goat Arjun. When a tantric sanyasi demands that the goat be sacrificed to the goddess Kali, Mato runs away with Arjun in a desperate bid to reach the sanctuary of the Armenian church. Hunted by the entire village, the boy and his goat struggle to evade capture and reach safety. In the process, Mahasweta Devi, exposes the manner in which religion exploits superstition for its own ends. In this tender and charming tale primarily for young readers, Mahasweta Devi reveals a fresh new face to those who know her only from the hardhitting fiction on which her reputation is grounded. Over the years, she has written extensively for young readers, using her considerable experience of oral history and grassroot realities to weave stories which educate future adults about an India very few of them would otherwise know of. Mahasweta Devi is one of India’s foremost writers. Her powerful fiction has won her recognition in the form of the Sahitya Akademi (1979), Jnanpith (1996) and Ramon Magsaysay (1996) awards, the title of Officier del’Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres (2003) and the Nonino Prize (2005) amongst several other literary honours. She was also awarded the Padmasree in 1986, for her activist work among dispossessed tribal communities. Nirmal Kanti Bhattacharjee, the translator, has had a long and distinguished career. He has taught, written, edited and translated, and is at presented Regional Secretary, Sahitya Akdemi, Calcutta.