It might be easy to be a woman today, in the 21st century, but it has not always been this way. There was a time when the word 'feminism' or women empowerment wasn't even coined. There was a time when women struggled to break society's so-called "norms" and achieve what they were truly born to be. And Indian women's history is full of pioneers who have broken gender barriers and worked hard for their rights and made progress in the field of politics, arts, science, law etc.
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. Raziya, the battle-scarred warrior, who proudly claimed the title of Sultan, refusing its fragile feminine counterpart, Sultana; the courageous Meerabai who repudiated her patriarchal destiny as the cloistered daughter-in-law of a Rajput clan; the gentle Mughal princess Jahanara: who claims the blessings of both Allah and the Prophet Muhammad and wishes "never to be forgotten"; Laxmibai, widow, patriot, and martyr, who rides into legend and immortality fighting for her adopted son's birthright; and Hazrat Mahal, courtesan, begum, and rebel queen, resolute till the very end in defying British attempts to seize her ex-husband's kingdom.
Buy this book now.
