DEVI The Bandit Queen

Hardback. After being tortured and raped for 23 days by the killers of her bandit lover, a young Indian woman set out on a path of revenge. Phoolan Devi - Goddess of Flowers - escaped from her captors and formed her own band of 'dacoits', masterminding a massacre on St. Valentine's Day 1981, which ended in the deaths of 20 villagers. Never before in Indian history had so many high caste Hindus died at the unclean hands of their inferiors. From that day, Devi was on the run, fostering a violent and romantic legend, robbing from the rich to give to the poor. Hiding in snake-infested ravines, she eluded capture for 2yrs despite police ambushes and gun battles which left many dead. She became revered as one who had cast off oppression and had resurrected a mythical golden age when women were free from the restraints of Hinduism. Married against her will at the age of 11 to an old man who already had a wife, Devi finally ran away with a group of bandits whose leader was to become her lover. During her reign as the Dacoit Queen, police put a large reward on her head, but despite many attempts to capture her she always managed to shoot her way to freedom. Once the running was over, Phoolan Devi sat in jail awaiting trial for murder after a dramatic surrender ceremony when, dressed in a khaki uniform and a red bandanna, she handed over her rifle to a government minister and kissed his feet. Illus., Epilogue and Sources. 244pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Nr. f. in Vg+ dw. which has v. sl. faded sp.