Podcast #70: Phoolan Devi

*** NOTE: This episode’s Dead Lady had a very challenging existence, particularly when she was younger, and her story is marked by multiple incidents of violence and sexual abuse. Please use caution when listening ***

In this episode, we join forces with the Ms Informed podcast to bring you the story of Phoolan Devi.

Known as India’s “Bandit Queen,” Phoolan Devi overcame a life of poverty, illiteracy, and abuse, first as a child bride, and later enduring after being kidnapped by bandits and rising to lead the gang. She eventually became a politician, campaigning for women’s causes and the poor. Even today, Phoolan is a symbol for the anger, vengeance and injustice against women in India, as well as an inspiration for the lower classes.

Madhvi Ramani and Rina Grob told her story at a recent live DLS show in Berlin.

DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire joins host/producer Susan Stone to introduce this episode.

Discover the Ms Informed podcast wherever you like to listen, and here. As mentioned, Katy and Susan have done an interview with them which will appear on Ms Informed Episode 165. You can also follow them on Instagram.

Show notes:

Phoolan and others before surrendering to the police in 1983

To learn more about Phoolan Devi, check out her autobiography I, Phoolan Devi: The Autobiography of India’s Bandit Queen and Malan Sen’s India’s Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi, and on Phoolan’s legacy, read The Furies: Three Women and their Fight for Justice by journalist and writer Elizabeth Flock. As for Shekhar Kapur’s film Bandit Queen, you’re better off reading Arundhati Roy’s essay on the film.

Also mentioned was the Mann Deshi Foundation, a woman-founded charity that set up the first rural bank for women in India and helps women and girls in rural areas in India so that they are given a chance in life and help their communities.

Daughters of Destiny, available on Netflix, follows five girls from the Dalit class, who enter Shanti Bhavan, a school that educates the poorest children

If you are interested in attending the upcoming Dead Ladies Show at the Droste Festival in Muenster, get more details on the event here. And if you’d like to come see us in Berlin May 16th, consider subscribing to our newsletter to receive updates. Fans of the New York show can get their newsletter here.

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Thanks for listening! We’ll be back with a new episode next month.