Mahasweta Devi emerged as a major writer not only in Bengali, in which of course she wrote all her works, but was also very popular in many Indian languages including Hindi. She became a voice of courage and gumption who spoke for the tribals and the under-privileged very forcefully. In fact she was one of the first major writers who brought the tribal life and its tragedies to the creative attention.
From writing about the Naxalites and their tragic end to the atrocities committed on Nandigram protestors, she was always courageous in speaking without bothering about the political consequences. She was a committed progressive, close to the CPM and yet when Nandigram happened she protested very strongly against the CPM government's role.
She also was the voice not only of courage and gumption but also of Indian women. I don't remember whether she claimed to be a feminist but like Hindi writer Krishna Sobti, she explored and asserted the Indian womanhood, its freedom and its struggles for equality.
Many years ago, unfortunately when she contested for the presidentship of the Sahitya Akademi, she lost to a mediocre writer in vote but that did not restrain her from carrying on nor did it diminish her stature in any way.
She was hugely respected in the world of letters and I remember she spoke very boldly and movingly at the inauguration of the Frankfurt book fair when India was the guest country.
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