Situational Irony: Hospitals (Breast-Giver)
The Haldar men are of the opinion that "Hospitals don't admit people who are so sick," which is ironic given the fact that this is normally the precise time when a person would enter the hospital, such as Jashoda with her advanced breast cancer.
Dramatic Irony: Pori's Fate (Giribala)
The reader already knows that Pori is doomed—we know Mohan's machinations, we know who Panu really is, we know that even Aulchand is going to be fooled by the man who ostensibly marries Pori—but the characters do not. There is a real wedding and Aulchand and Giri find common ground in their daughter being married to whom they assume is a rickshaw plier.
Situational Irony: Ma-Ho (Draupadi)
Dulna's calling out "Ma-Ho!" when he died is profoundly perplexing to the military police, who speculate as to what it might mean. They call in special translators and undergo much vexation as they try to figure out what this "violent slogan in the tribal language" is. However, it is a lowly water carrier who figures out that it is an old battle cry from the Santals during the time of Gandhi. The irony is in who discovered what it meant and how different it was than what they assumed.
Situational Irony: Jashoda's Death (Breast-Giver)
It is ironic that Jashoda, who used her breasts to nurture so many—to keep them alive, to help them flourish—dies of cancer of the breast. This irony is powerful because it is Devi's way of ensuring the reader understands the cruel nature of an Indian woman's lot. Her value is her usefulness, which is usually tied to her body, and no matter how valuable she was, as soon as she is no longer considered as such, she is cast aside and, in Jashoda's case, left to die alone from the very things that once elevated her.
