Phoolan devi: A forgotten revolutionary Bahujan woman
If I am granted one wish, I want to be a kid again, I want to live a new life, I don't want to be Phoolan Devi, and what happened with Phoolan Devi should never happen to any woman of this country."
If I am granted one wish, I want to be a kid again, I want to live a new life, I don't want to be Phoolan Devi, and what happened with Phoolan Devi should never happen to any woman of this country."
This is the wish of women who dared to stand against patriarchy, casteism and feudalism all at once and was successful in fighting against all odds, but even today, she remains sore in the eyes of the upper caste community of India.
The woman who experienced life being a dacoit to Robin Hood, from Durga Bhavani to Buddhism. Many books were written about her around the world. Times Magazine included her in 'revolutionary women of the world.' Times called her 'one of the remarkable women of India.
Daily Telegraph declares her a modern-day Robinhood. The savarana intellectuals never respected the same woman the respect she deserved.
When we think about her personality ' an image of a woman with red bandana-wearing khaki, donning a bullet belt on her waist and a double barrel gun on her shoulder flashes in front of our eyesβthe Bahujan revolutionary women of India, Phoolan Devi.
She was born on 10 Aug 1963 to Devi Din Mallah and Moola Devi in the Mallah community(sub-caste of Shudras) in a small village of Gorha ka Purwa in U.P.
Devi Din Mallah was a small farmer.
The area falls under the Bihads of Chambal and has no development or facilities.
Devi Din Mallah was a small farmer.
The area falls under the Bihads of Chambal and has no development or facilities.
In a very low-income family, Phoolan Devi grew up as a rebellious kid. When she was of 9 years, she verbally fought her uncle Mayadin who was trying to seize her father's land and even smashed her male cousin on the head, leaving him bloodied when her family was standing scared.
In her autobiography 'I, Phoolan Devi: the autobiography of India's bandit queen,' she told about an incident when after working the whole day when she asked for her payment, the owner denied it. In anger, she destroyed the owner's house in the middle of the night.
Because of this rebellious nature, her family got angry, and at the age 10, she was forcefully married to Puttilal, who was more than 20 years older than her. When she reaches the home of Putti Lal, she is abused, raped and assaulted daily.
When she fell ill, she came back to her village after some time when things became normal for her. She returned to Putti Lal, and upon reaching, she came to know that Putti Lal had married another woman. When she confronted him, she was again beaten and sent back to her village.
She returned home and learned that his uncle Mayadin was again trying to grab their land and started fighting him. Mayadin filed a fake case against her, and from stories, it is confirmed that she was raped in custody too.
At the age of 16, Phoolan Devi was kidnapped by bandit Babu Gujjar and was raped and assaulted every day. In the rivalry between gangs, another gang of Thakurs led by Ram Thakur and Lala Thakur attacked the gang of Babu Gujjar for revenge on the man who the Gujjar Gang killed.
They kidnapped Phoolan Devi and took her hostage in Behmai village, where she was raped for many days and paraded naked in the village. This was a standard treatment for a dalit woman by upper-caste people.
"I cried for help from every person in the village, but not a single person came out for help. I was sick, depressed and broken." Phoolan Devi told in her book.
After many days of the assault, Phoolan Devi succeeded in running away from the village.
After many days of the assault, Phoolan Devi succeeded in running away from the village.
then, she met Vikram Mallah, another bandit from the mallah community. She vowed to take revenge against her rapists. She starts building their group with Vikram Mallah. On Feb 14, 1981, she reached Behmai village and killed 22 Thakur men.
In the controversy around Behmai Kand, Phoolan Devi quoted in her autobiography, "what others called crime, I call Justice." Justice against the atrocities she had gone through, Justice against the brutality of feudalism, casteism and patriarchy.
In her autobiography, she explained how she was left with two options either kill herself or stay silent like every woman, but she realized how upper-caste men think lower caste women as a toy, she knew if she didn't take a stand now, many other women will be sacrificed again.
She decided to attack casteism, feudalism and patriarchy. And savarana intellectuals point out her violence instead of her stand as a woman of an oppressed community.
For the next two years, U.P., Rajasthan and M.P. police struggled to capture and encounter Phoolan Devi but failed to do so until she surrendered. Even the police of three states don't have a single photo of Phoolan Devi.
On 13th Feb 1983, Phoolan Devi surrendered in M.P. in the presence of Arjun Singh, then CM of M.P. thousands of people gathered around Phoolan Devi. They were those people who saw Phoolan Devi as a symbol of self-confidence, a revolution against atrocities.
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