Product Description

Phoolan Devi was born into a poor, low-caste family in Uttar Pradesh, living in a world that gave more respect to a stray dog than to a woman. At 11, she was married off and endured beatings, rapes and persecution. She survived being kidnapped by bandits and became one of them, learning how to shoot like a man. She also found love for the first time, but her lover was brutally murdered. Without his protection, she was paraded naked through villages and gang-raped; but she survived and for three years claimed retribution for herself and all low-caste women, before negotiating her own surrender. After 11 years in prison, she is now free to tell her own story.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #230422 in Books
• Published on: 1997-03-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 480 pages

Customer Reviews

In Phoolan Devi's own words....
Phoolan Devi, the bandit queen of India, an accidental title but one she deserved - this story is told by her. Not many people know who Phoolan Devi is, but after reading this book she is definitely a queen in my eyes! Her unfortunate circumstances along with her will to survive forced her into the hands of bandits but they took her in, respected her and made her their queen. The ordeal she went through at such young and tender age shocked me, made me thank god everytime i turned the pages of this book. A story of true courage, can easily bring anyone to tears!

This book is Phoolan
This book is one of my all time favorite books. It is a wonderful account of her life, though some may dispute its authenticity. I do not care if this is fact or fiction made up by Phoolan. I do believe it is fact, however (after reading several other books about her). What matters is that this is her story, how she wanted to tell it. There is truth in that.

History is the same way. It cannot be "fact" per se. It is biased, twisted, etc. The truth is in what historians WANTED to convey. This book is Phoolan. If that's what you seek, this is what you want.

Though she was uneducated and poor, Phoolan still had a fire in her that resisted. This book is difficult to read but it is worth it in the end. Her life was not a waste. She was a victim of circumstance and did all that she could do. She was not perfect. She committed murder. She was a wild woman. It's a paradoxical thing to both love and hate this woman. Phoolan will always be remembered by me. She was amazing.

I, Phoolan Devi
I must admit that I bought this book completely by chance as I just wanted an interesting book regarding an Indian personality so I just did a general search on Amazon I came across this book...I had a vague idea of the Bandit Queen but, wanted to know more about her motives and reasoning as to what caused her to become a bandit, so I bought this book and I can honestly say that after reading this book that it really affected me in profound ways...I have so much love and respect for this woman and her continual fight for justice....She is a symbol of hope to any woman in the world. This book is very highly recommended and would easily put it into my top 5 most incredible books of all time...