Heroines

The idea of heroism in women is not easily defined. In men the notion is often associated with physical strength and extravagant bravery. Women's heroism has tended to be of a very different nature less easily categorized. All the women portrayed-Draupadi Radha Ambapali Raziya Sultan Meerabai Jahanara Laxmibai and Hazrat Mahal-share an unassailable belief in a cause for which they are willing to fight to the death if need be. In every case this belief leads them to confrontation with a horrified patriarchy. In the book we meet lotus-eyed dark-skinned Draupadi dharma queen whose story emerges almost three millennia ago; the goddess Radha who sacrificed societal respectability for a love that transgressed convention; Ambapali a courtesan who stepped out of the luxurious trappings of Vaishali to follow the Buddha and wrote a single haunting poem on the evanescence of beauty and youth.