Phoolan Devi - who? Very few people outside of India know who this woman is or have ever heard of her and yet she has had a remarkable life. She was born not in the last century but in 1963 and her name translates to 'goddess of flowers' in Hindi. But her life was anything but a bed of roses! Born into the lower mallah caste (boatmen).
From a young age she was repeatedly raped by men of various standing and was oppressed, molested and undervalued. The final straw would seem to come after the breakdown of her marriage when she became a social outcast, although her life up until this point had been a series of disasters, disappointments and injustice. At one point spending a short time in jail and being repeatedly beaten and raped. This experience left her indelibly scarred and ignited her hatred for men who routinely denigrated women. She then became akin to the 'Robin Hood' of her area, a superwoman to the economically and socially lower classes.
In 1979 a gang of dacoits (bandits) abducted Phoolan. She became the symbol of people like herself but unlike most women and especially Indian women she chose to take vengeance in a more extreme manner. Having been taught how to use a rifle she took part in the dacoits raids on high-caste villages where they would ransack their houses and kidnap upper-caste landowners for ransom.
Despite being labelled a murderer, kidnapper and self appointed desperado she became a legend within her own lifetime. Phoolan Devi became a famous female warrior and rebelled against the Indian social system.
Following a massacre in an Indian village in 1981 when twenty-two men were killed, there followed a massive police hunt for her, but they did not find her. She eventually surrendered herself to the police in 1983 denying any involvement in the killings.
After 11 years in prison, justice prevailed and the charges were dropped and she was a free woman. She then stood for election and became a 'Member of Parliament' for a town in Northern India. At the time she was quoted as having said "My main goal is that things that only the rich and privileged have enjoyed until now should also be given to the poor: for example drinking water, electricity, schools and hospitals...."
On the 25th July 2001 Phoolan Devi was assassinated, being fatally shot as she got out of her car at the gate of her New Delhi residence.
Make what you will of her life, was she a bad woman or one who had had the great misfortune to suffer within the Indian caste system and at the hands of men? Whatever you decide there is no getting away from the fact that she was denied a life with dignity even in the manner of her death.
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