Mahasweta Devi was born in a Brahmin family[6] on 14 January 1926 in Dacca, British India (now Dhaka, Bangladesh). Her father, Manish Ghatak, was a poet and novelist[7] of the Kallol movement, who used the pseudonym Jubanashwa (Bengali: যুবনাশ্ব).[8] Ghatak's brother was filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak.[9] Devi's mother, Dharitri Devi, was also a writer and a social worker[7] whose brothers include sculptor Sankha Chaudhury and the founder-editor of Economic and Political Weekly of India, Sachin Chaudhury.
Devi's first schooling was in Dhaka,[7] Eden Montessori School (1930). After that, she moved to West Bengal (now in India).[7] Then she studied in Midnapore Mission Girls High School (1935). After that she was admitted to Santiniketan (1936 to 1938). After that, she studied at Beltala Girls' School (1939-1941) where she finished her matriculation. Then in 1944 she got I.A. from Asutosh College. She attended Rabindranath Tagore-founded Visva-Bharati University and completed a B.A. (Hons) in English, and then finished an M.A. in English at Calcutta University.[7][10][11]
