The Story of Phulan devi

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Posted: 13 years ago
There is a strong possibility that "Phulwa" is based on the life of Phulan Devi . So i decide that we need to know the story of Phulan Devi . First thing that came in my mind was Wikipedia. I must say such a painful and sad story or life she had , Her life story can be termed as  Indian Woman's Amazing Journey from Peasant to International Legend

So i think we all should know about her story , I think this forum is most suitable to narrate it . By knowing it we can compare it with "Phulwa" as well as identify where the story is moving and if CVs are changing anything .


Early life



Phoolan was born into the mallah (boatmen) caste,[1] in the small village of Gorha ka Purwa in Uttar Pradesh, India. She was the second child in a family of four girls and a boy. Her father owned an acre of land near G.B. Road with a huge Neem tree on it. The valuable timber that could be derived from the tree was, effectively, the family's nest egg.

When Phoolan was ten years old, her cousin, Mayadin, became the head of the family. He sent workers to cut down the Neem tree and sell the wood, intending to keep the proceeds for himself. Although her father saw no use in protest, Phoolan confronted her cousin. She taunted him, publicly called him a thief, and with her older sister staged a sit-in on his land. Even after violence against Phoolan'knocking her out with a brick'she wouldn't relent. In an effort to rid himself of the little nuisance, Mayadin arranged to have her married to a man named Putti Lal, who lived several hundred miles away. Putti Lal was in his thirties; Phoolan was eleven.[2] Devi claimed in her autobiography that he was a man of "very bad character".

There are conflicting reports as to the events of Phoolan's life after this point.

Some accounts say that she feared her husband and refused to live with him. He was already married, so Phoolan was relegated to household labour. Miserable, she ran away to her village, much to the horror of her family. A wife leaving her husband was a serious taboo. Phoolan's mother, Moola, was so ashamed that she told her daughter to go to jump in a well and kill herself.

Other accounts say her husband raped and mistreated her, but that she did not know what was happening. They further claim she became seriously ill and her father came to take her to the hospital. Her parents publicly declared the marriage ended in front of the villagers. She did not see her husband for two years, until she was 13. This account claims he then came and took her back to his house where he was living with his "second wife", an older woman. The "second wife" beat Phoolan and treated her like a slave, restricted Phoolan's food, and made her sleep in the cow-shed. Eventually, the husband decided to take Phoolan back to her village and family.

In any respect, it came about that Phoolan's marriage ended and she was marked as a social outcast; even her family rejected her. Returning to Gorha ka Purwa, Phoolan continued to challenge Mayadin. She took him to court for unlawfully holding her father's land. During court proceedings, she seldom controlled her emotions. Her dramatic outbursts often left the courtroom stunned.

In 1979, Mayadin accused Phoolan of stealing from his house. She denied the accusation, but the police arrested her anyway. In those three days in jail, she was beaten and raped repeatedly by the police, then left in a rat-infested cell. She knew that her cousin was behind the injustice against her. The experience broke her body but ignited her hatred for men who routinely denigrated women. When released from prison, she was further shunned by her village and her family.


Edited by PIA.SEN.GUPTA - 13 years ago

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Pirated_Fun thumbnail
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Posted: 13 years ago

As a dacoit


In 1979, a gang of dacoits abducted Phoolan. The gang leader, Baboo Gujjar, who was an upper-caste Gujjar, wanted to rape her. However, she was protected by Vikram, the deputy leader of the gang who belonged to Phoolan's caste, Mallah. One night when Baboo attempted to rape Phoolan, Vikram killed him and assumed the gang leadership. Phoolan became Vikram's second wife. The gang ransacked the village where Phoolan's husband lived. Phoolan stabbed her estranged husband, and dragged him in front of the villagers. The gang left him lying almost dead by the road, with a note as a warning for older men who marry young girls.

Phoolan Devi learned how to use a rifle from Vikram, and participated in the gang's activities, which consisted of ransacking high-caste villages and kidnapping upper-caste landowners for ransom. After every crime, Phoolan Devi would visit a Durga temple and thank the goddess for her protection. The gang hid out in the Chambal ravine.

Later, Shri Ram got out of jail and claimed the leadership of the gang. He belonged to the Thakur caste, and would make sexual advances towards Phoolan. This led to tensions between Shri Ram and Vikram, who made him apologize to Phoolan. When the gang would ransack a village, Shri Ram would beat and insult the Mallahs. This displeased the Mallahs in the gang, many of whom left the gang. When Shri Ram got a dozen Thakurs to join the gang, Vikram suggested the gang be divided into two, but Shri Ram refused. Shortly afterwards, Shri Ram and other Thakur members in the gang attempted to kill Phoolan and Vikram, who managed to escape. However, later they successfully killed Vikram Mallah, abducted Phoolan and locked her up in the Behmai Phoolan Devi was raped by many men in Behmai. After three weeks, she managed to escape with two other Mallahs from Vikram's gang, helped by a lower-caste villager. She gathered a gang of Mallahs, that she led with Man Singh, a member of Vikram's former gang. The gang carried out a series of violent robberies in north and central India, mainly targeting upper-caste people. Some say that Phoolan Devi targeted only the upper-caste people and shared the loot with the lower-caste people, but the Indian authorities insist this is a myth. village.

Seventeen months after her escape from Behmai, Phoolan returned to the village, to take her revenge. On 14 February 1981, Phoolan and her gang marched into the Behmai village, dressed as police officers. The Thakurs in the village were preparing for a wedding. The gang demanded that her kidnappers be produced, along with all the valuables in the village. Details of what exactly happened are not available, but Phoolan is said to have recognized two men who earlier had sexually assaulted her and murdered her lover. When Phoolan's gang failed to find all the kidnappers after an exhaustive search, she ordered her gang members to line up all the Thakur men in the village and shoot them. The dacoits opened fire and killed twenty-two Thakur men, most of whom were not involved in her kidnapping or rape. Later, Phoolan Devi claimed that she herself didn't kill anybody in Behmai ' all the killings were carried out by her gang members.

The Behmai massacre was followed by a massive police manhunt that failed to locate Phoolan Devi. V. P. Singh, the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, resigned in the wake of the Behmai killings.Phoolan Devi began to be called the Bandit Queen. Dolls of Phoolan Devi dressed as Hindu goddess Durga were sold in market towns in Uttar Pradesh. She was glorified by much of the Indian media.

Edited by PIA.SEN.GUPTA - 13 years ago
Pirated_Fun thumbnail
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Posted: 13 years ago

Surrender and jail term

Two years after the Behmai massacre the police had still not captured Phoolan Devi. The Indira Gandhi Government decided to negotiate a surrender. By this time, Phoolan Devi was in poor health and most of her gang members were dead. In February 1983, she agreed to surrender to the authorities. However, she said that she didn't trust the Uttar Pradesh police and insisted that she would only surrender to the Madhya Pradesh Police. She also insisted that she would lay down her arms only before Mahatma Gandhi's picture and Goddess Durga, and not to the police.[4] She also required the following conditions:[citation needed]

  • She would not get the death penalty
  • Her gang members should not get more than eight years in jail
  • Her brother should be given a government job
  • Her father should receive a plot of land
  • Her entire family should be escorted by the police to her surrender ceremony

An unarmed police chief met her at a hiding place in the Chambal ravines. They walked their way to Bhind, where she laid her rifle before the portraits of Gandhi and Goddess Durga. The onlookers included a crowd of around 10,000 people and 300 police officer and the then chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Mr. Arjun Singh. Three hundred police were waiting to arrest her and other members of her gang who surrendered at the same time.

Phoolan Devi was charged with 48 crimes, including thirty charges of dacoity (banditry) and kidnapping. Her trial was delayed for eleven years, which she served in the prison. During this period, she was operated on for ovarian cysts and ended up with an involuntary hysterectomy.Eklavya Sena, a group that was aimed at teaching lower-caste people the art of self-defense. She married Umaid Singh, her sister's husband and a New Delhi business contractor .

TitansFan thumbnail
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Posted: 13 years ago
thanks Pia, yes i read this
sudss thumbnail
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Posted: 13 years ago
the phoenix - hats off to the bravery of phoolan devi...  its so hard not to loose heart when life takes you through such harsh experiences. wondering what all she had to go through in such a short span of life!!
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Posted: 13 years ago
oh my! really shocked to read this
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Posted: 13 years ago

Popular culture

Shekhar Kapur made a movie Bandit Queen (1994) about Phoolan Devi's life up to her 1983 surrender. Although Phoolan Devi is a heroine in the film, she fiercely disputed its accuracy and fought to get it banned in India. She even threatened to immolate herself outside a theater if the film were not withdrawn. Eventually, she settled a suit against the filmmakers for about $60,000. The film brought her international recognition. At this time, she was re-indicted for murder and other charges.

Though she was illiterate, Phoolan composed her autobiography titled The Bandit Queen of India: An Indian Woman's Amazing Journey From Peasant to International Legend, with help of two international authors, Marie-Therese Cuny and Paul Rambali.

Star Shakur has referred to herself as being a "Bandit Queen" once in a Youth Rebel Movement inspired and acknowledged by the movie and story of Phoolan Devi. Star Shakur's alias and first EP Album entitled "The Bandit Queen" was named after this movie.

Phoolan Devi is the subject of the Boxcar Satan song Shoot Down The Sun[5] from their 2003 album Upstanding and Indigent.

Edited by PIA.SEN.GUPTA - 13 years ago