The real Bandit Queen... An angry rebel by Danielle M. Murphy Editor in Chief She left a legendary trail of revenge that included kidnapping, dacoity (banditry) and murder. Challenging the Indian caste system and its mistreatment of women, Phoolan Devi emerged a heroine. Devi was born into low caste poverty, where being a woman is a burden. Women of her caste are not educated. When struck with illness, they blame it on evil spirits lurking in trees. Producing sons and working in the fields are their only worth. A woman's work earns a meal and the equivalent of 50 cents a day. They marry young, at the age of fourteen or fifteen. Their lives are fixed, their future and their mothers' past are the same. Bandit Queen Limited engagement BEHREND-Phoolan Devi overcame repeated abuse beginning with the marriage her father sold her into at the age of leven. Devi, India's famed outlaw, merged a heroine of the lower aste from a life of abandonment, Jespair and crime. Once the leader of a gang of bandits, she is now a candidate for public office in India. Bandit Queen (1994) chronicles the life of Devi beginning in 1968 with her forced marriage, to her eventual surrender in 1983. Bandit Queen is based on Devi's diary, Goddess of Flowers, dictated during the prison term following her surrender. Adventure and suspense fill the screen as Devi, the Bandit Queen, escapes from her abusive marriage and is then banished from her poverty-ridden village. She finds solace with a gang of iandits, evading police and attempting to avenge the beatings E.Rxksiogivam:wNgi ?he Pout State 'Educational Partnersep Program needs tutors. 'they are seeking co ll ege students . to tutor middle school* and high school students any day of the week Please caff Kathy at 871-6689 for information! Don't wait!! Call now!! EDUCATION LOAN FUND FOR WOMEN The PEO Education Loan Fund makes loans to qualifying women who desire higher education and are in need of financial assistance. Maximum amount available• $5200. Each applicant will be evaluated by PEO trustees who will determine exact amount to be awarded. For more information, contact the Financial Aid Office at 898-6162. Celebration y Student Creativity: Drawings anartotograpfis Spring Art Show Aprtil 15, 16, and 17 Reed Wintergarden Opens April 15 at 4 pm Showing Daily 6 am-12 midnight Devi's village, Gorha Ka Purwa, is not unlike others in northern India. Life in the village revolves around caste. The caste system defines what a family may eat, how marriage is performed, the length of a woman's sari and what jewelry she may wear, whether she can draw water from the village well and what doors she may use to enter the temple. Whether or not a man may carry an umbrella is determined by caste. Devi's father, Devidin, had been fortunate to inherit 15 acres of land. But he lost the land to an elder brother and his son, Maiyadin. Maiyadin and his father had better political connections in the village than Devidin. While Devi's father did not protest, she did. At the age of ten, Devi and gang rape she endured at the hands of the upper-caste Thakurs. Amidst the violence, Devi find love in the arms of bandit leade Vakrim. Together Devi and Vakrim struggle fighting violence with violence. The cinematography of Bandi Queen captures many facets o Indian culture. From villages, without plumbing, across the Indian countryside to large urban, centers, Bandit Queen, takes its viewers on a roller coaster ride through India. Bandit Queen was directed by Shekhar Kapur and stars Seema Beemus as Devi. The film is no , rated, but contains violence an , brief nudity. Bandit Queen can be see Tuesday, April 15 at 7 p.m. i the Reed Lecture Hall. The fil is at Behrend for a one nigh , showing as part of the Women' Film Series. There is no charg , for admission and the film is ope to the public. Rice ofStrawers Studio Theater Production Studio Theater 8 pm April 10, 11; 12 and 13 For Reservations 898-6016 TO PUT YOUR ANNOUNCEMENT OR ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING IN THE CALENDAR, IT MUST BE SUBMITTED TO THE COLUMN THE MONDAY PRIOR TO PUBLICATION. SUBMISSIONS AFTER THIS DEADLINE WILL RUN THE FOLLOWING WEEK. CALL THE OFFICE WITH ANY QUESTIONS: 8984488 undertook a long and lonely battle to reclaim the family's land. She taunted Maiyadin in the town square and embarrassed him in front of his upper-caste friends. With her elder sister, Devi arranged a sit-in on Maiyadin's land. According to Devi, he beat her with a brick until she was unconscious. At the age of 11, at Maiyadin's inseistence, Devi was married to a widower in exchange for a cow. He was three times her age, and despite that, forced himself upon her and beat her repeatedly. Devi left him soon after she turned 12. Terrified, she walked across an area the width of Texas back to her parent's home. "What can we do?" her mother cried. "You have heaped disgrace upon us all. There is no alternative: you must commit suicide. Go jump in the village well!" Women don't leave their husbands in India. Although she considered it, Devi didn't jump. She spent her adolescence in Gorha Ka Purwa, alternating running away and returning over the next four years. During this time, Devi was married, briefly, to her cousin Kailash, who was already married. Devi continued her battle with Maiyadin and argued her father's case before the Allahabad High Court. In 1973, when she was 21, Devi was arrested for what she calls fraudulent charges of robbery at Maiyadin's home. During a month in police custody, she was beaten and raped--as a large number of Indian women are. Many of the policemen were Maiyadin's friends. In early July of that year, during the festival of Sawan Dui, Devi's life changed dramatically. Rumors circulated throughout the village that a band of dacoits led by Babu Gujar were camped by the river. Allegedly, they were 13 - SUNDAY MEMORIAL SERVICE HONORING HERB LAUFFER 2 PM REED COMMONS MOVIE 10:00 PM JERRY MCGUIRE 1k 0 P Goddess of Flowers: Seemas Beemus stars as Phoolan Devi in the Bandit Queen (1994), a romantic tale of violent vengence. The film can he seen at Behrend on Tuesday, April 15 at 7 p.m. ordered to kidnap Devi Devi's accounts of that night vary. She may have been marched into the ravines or kidnapped. Maiyadin may have paid the dacoits to take her away, or maybe she just left. During the next 72 hours she was brutalized by Gujar. On the third day, Vikram Mallah, Gujar's chief lieutenant and deputy, who had admired Devi, shot Gujar dead. Mallah, a member of Devi's caste, assumed control of the gang and Devi became his mistress. From Mallah, Devi learned to fight. According to a popular ballad sung in the villages, Mallah told her, "If you're going to kill, kill twenty, not just one. For if you kill twenty, your fame will spread; if you kill only one, they will hang you as a murderess." Mallah and Devi lead their gang through the badlands of India until August of 1980. While in bed with Devi, Mallah was shot. He died 10 EA - THURSDAY 11 - FRIDAY 12 - SATURDAY IVCF MARTIAL ARTS 5:30 PM REED 112 2:00 PM REED 113 NEWMAN 10:00 AM 8:00 PM REED 3 BRUNO'S: COMEDIAN NIAGARA BASEMENT SOCIETY OF WOMEN 808 GOLUB 8:30 PMD BRUNO'S: COMEDIAN ENGINEERS 12:30 MIKE CHESELKA 820 PM NICK 165 MOVIE 10:00 PM MOVIE - 10:00 PM MOVIE - 10:00 PM JERRY MCGUIRE JERRY MCGUIRE JERRY MCGUIRE 14 - MONDAY 15 - TUESDAY 16 - WEDNESDAY ALCHEMY AND STAMP Debate: FILM: BANDIT DUEEN COLLECTING Dr. Michael J. Behe vs. REED LECTURE HALL REED COMMONS Dr. Niles Eldredge, 7 PM 12 NOON Creation vs. Evolution: Commuter Council Challenging Darwin PERSONAL GROWTH GROUP 1:00 pm Reed 112 Reed Commons 7:30 pm FOR WOMEN 6:00 PM COUNSELING CENTER SGA MEETING • 5:15 PM REED-114 Thursday, April 10. /997 The Behrend College Collegian - Page 3 with his head in her lap. Mallah was shot by two dacoit brothers, Sri Ram and Lala Ram in revenge of Gujar's death. The brothers, like Gujar, were upper-caste. Caste also controlled the dacoit gangs. The brothers kidnapped Devi and took her to the village of Behmai. For 23 days she was repeatedly beaten and raped into unconsciousness. On the evening of the 23rd day, a priest helped Devi escape. She then formed her own gang with Man Singh, a fellow dacoit. Seventeen months later, on Str-V4tlentine's Day, Devi returned to Behmai. Devi and her gang, dressed as police officers, entered the village and rounded up upper caste Thakur men. The men were taken to the riverbanks and shot. Twenty-two men were killed. Two years later, with a $10,400 bounty on her head, Devi and her gang surrendered. Terms included land for her family and a government job for her brother. Devi spent 11 years in prison without trial. "I rotted in jail," said Devi. "Everyone forgot I was there." Riding the tide of low-caste politics, Devi campaigned for Parliament. She vowed to work for the "uplift of women, the downtrodden, and the poor." She was elected in May 1996. A film illustrating Devi's life was released in 1994. Bandit Queen has stirred controversy with Devi denouncing the film for omitting her feud with Maiyadin and its depiction of her. She does not, however, dispute the story. Bandit Queen can be seen at Behrend on Tuesday, April 15 at 7 p.m. in the Reed Lecture Hall. Information courtesy India's Bandit Queen" by Mary Anne Weaver, The Atlantic Monthly November 1996 LEARNING ASSISTANCE CENTER SERVICES 203 Library Monday 12 - 4 Tuesday 10 -2, 6 - 8 Wednesday 12 -4, 6 - 8 Thursday 10 -1,6 - 8 Sunday 4 - 7 Math assistance also available in the LAC during the evening and Sunday hours and Tues. & Thur 12 - 1.
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