by Historical Heroines- 100 Women You Should Know About (retail) (epub)
So when Flight 73 landed for a stopover in Pakistan’s Jinnah International Airport in the early morning en route to Frankfurt, all the staff had been trained to deal with terrorist activity. Four armed Palestinian hijackers from the Aby Nidal Organisation boarded the plane in the guise of airport security. Led by Zayd Safarini, their mission was to fly to Cyprus and Israel and demand the release of Palestinian prisoners before blowing up the plane.
Neerja quickly realised what was happening and immediately sent a secret hijack code to the pilots enabling them to escape through a secret hatch and therefore ground the plane – an approved plan in such a situation. As chief purser she was now first in command of a critical hostage situation, and one that got increasingly worse when the hijackers realised they needed a new cabin crew. When they shot dead American Indian Rajesh Kumar, aged 29, before throwing him onto the tarmac, there was no doubting the danger for all aboard. They demanded the crew collect everyone’s passports, presumably to look for American passengers who were the primary targets. Neerja ensured that any American passports were hidden or thrown secretly down a rubbish chute as she and her crew collected passports.
The plane was then held for 17 hours as tensions ratcheted out of control. When the flight’s auxiliary power ran out at 9.55 am, the plane was plunged into darkness igniting the pressure cooker on board. One hijacker shot at the explosive belt of his comrade, only just missing but triggering the men to start shooting indiscriminately. Neerja and a passenger threw themselves at the emergency doors managing to open them so passengers could jump outside. It was reported that Neerja could easily have leapt from the plane at this point but she stayed to help everyone off. As she shielded three children while they got on the chute to slide to safety she was gunned down by the terrorists. She later died of her injuries. One of those children would later become the captain of another airline and owed his life to Neerja.
She was posthumously awarded the Ashoka Chakra, India’s highest award for valour. The terrorist leader was sent to an FBI prison and questions remain about what happened to the other men. Her parents set up the Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust to assist women overcoming social injustice and flight personnel who act beyond the call of duty – those heroic yet disparagingly labelled ‘waitresses of the skies’.
Nur Jahan or Mehr-un-Nisa (1577–1645)
Nur Jahan – a romantic tale of a loving couple who ruled together wisely? Or was she a scheming opportunist who manipulated her husband to sow discord and rule as she saw fit?
What is agreed is that she was the most influential and powerful woman in the Mughal Dynasty. She was born when her family had fallen on hard times and was en route to India. However her father Mirza Ghias Beg heralded her birth as a sign that their fortunes were changing. Although known as Nur Jahan, he named her Mehr-un-Nisa which means ‘Sun Amongst Women’ and prophetically she would light up their path. Soon after he was appointed to a great job at the Mughal court. As Nur gained power so too did her family. Her brother Asaf Khan was appointed prime minister under her rule.
And all of Nur’s accomplishments were achieved behind the curtain of purdah – the seclusion of women from men and strangers. Whatever one thinks of purdah Mughal girls were well educated in both academia and martial skills. After Nur’s first husband died she came to live in the emperor’s harem as a lady-in-waiting to the begum (the wife of highest rank). Men in raincoats may fantasise about a paradise of lascivious lovelies but in reality a harem was a complex community. It included all the women in the emperor’s family, their ladies-in-waiting, slaves, cooks, entertainers, guards and eunuchs – the only men permitted in the harem aside from the emperor himself.
In the spring of 1611 Nur caught the Emperor Jahinger’s eye at the Meena Bazzar and they were married soon after. This was remarkable because Nur was a widow in her 30s, which set her firmly on the shelf. She was considered exceptionally beautiful just like all good princesses and she became Jahinger’s favourite wife; number 20. But she did more than look pretty. She was an expert marksman and is famous for taking down a tiger with one shot, despite the obscured vision afforded by the howdah, a canopied seat atop an elephant. Unsurprisingly, when the emperor’s begum died she was immediately honoured with that rank.
Nur may have been a crack shot but her husband was a crack addict. By 1622 Jahinger’s battle with booze and drugs was well documented and Nur had been given unprecedented powers for a woman to approve all orders in his name. She also improved international trade and provided welfare for many including gifting almost 500 orphan girls with dowries to marry so they could escape abject poverty.
Jahinger’s memoirs credit her with helping him to live more healthily. Surely someone so intent on seizing control would have given him a shove down the slippery slope of drug dependency. Power-hungry or not, her insightful judgement is not in question as proven when she and Jahinger were held prisoner by a disgruntled general, Mahabat Khan. Whilst in captivity she expertly manipulated the situation to persuade Mahabat’s nobles to support Jahinger and Mahabat fled. Unfortunately, Mahabat had the last laugh when Jahinger died soon after this episode. Enlisting the help of Nur’s treacherous brother, they moved swiftly to ensure Prince Shah Jahan becomes the next emperor. And here we see the limit of female power, swiftly cut short as soon as her husband dies. They exiled Nur and her daughter to Lahore, where she spent the rest of her life in mourning and relative isolation.
Queen Nzinga (1581–17 December 1663)
Nzinga is a famous figure in Angolan history. She became the queen of the Mbundu people in the Ndongo Kingdom in 1623 and she was an important symbol in the creation of an independent Angola. In the Portuguese race with other European colonies for land and slaves they had established a fort and settlement in Luanda (Angola’s capital) in 1617, land that belonged to the Mbundu. They took many prisoners and forced Ngola (King) Mbande to flee.
In 1622 the Luanda Governor Joao Corria de Sousa invited King Mbande to a peace conference. He sent his sister Nzinga to negotiate instead and she played a blinding move against the Portuguese in their political games. Nzinga entered the room to find the governor sitting on the only chair – a cheap psychological shot. Rather than bow to his intimidation tactics, she made her slave kneel down so she too had a place to park her very important behind. From this equal levelling, she made a deal with the governor that was beneficial to both parties.
However she needed to ally with the Europeans to deal with hostile African neighbours and to secure lucrative trade deals. Nzinga had superb diplomatic, tactical and negotiating skills, and there was an almost Machiavellian touch to her tactics. She understood that converting to Christianity and taking the Portuguese governor’s wife’s name Anna De Souza would give her greater bargaining power with Europe.
Her sisters converted too and also adopted European names. Later she reverted back to her own native religion only to become Christian again when the political situation demanded it. A veritable Jesus-go-round. She also understood the limitations of being a woman and often dressed in male clothes and demanded to be called king. She was a queen (or king) to be reckoned with.
Of course the governor broke the agreement and Nzinga had to flee a couple of years later.
This was an unlucky break for Queen Mwongo Matamba as Nzinga fled in her direction and conquered her lands, which she swallowed into her kingdom of Ndongo. Meanwhile, a distraught Mbande committed suicide – or did he? – leaving Nzinga in command.
She offered sanctuary to runaway slaves to build her army, allied with the Imbangala tribes and offered alliance to the Dutch in 1641, praising their moral integrity whilst rubbishing their Portuguese enemy – not dissimilar to queen-bee tactics in the school playground of divide and rule. She fought Portuguese colonisation for decades.
Her sisters Mubkumbu Mbande, or Lady Barbara, and Kifunji, or Lady Grace, played an important part in Nzinga’s struggles against Portuguese domination. Some sources claim that the sisters were leading advisors
and war leaders in the powerful guerrilla army that she created. She employed many women in her council of advisors. Kifunji in particular led a dangerous and thrilling life acting as an undercover spy when she was captured by the Portuguese in 1629. It was the steady stream of intelligence that she sent her sister that enabled Nzinga to play off her enemies so brilliantly. Kifunji was drowned by her enemies in 1647. Frustratingly it’s been difficult to find stories about Kifunji’s espionage efforts. The Portuguese finally signed a peace treaty with Nzinga in 1657.
Nzinga may have been an important symbol of independence but she was no angel. Some sources believe she kept her own harem of men – oh happy days. Legends abound about her merciless rule such as making the men in her harem fight to the death after she had slept with them – like a designer dress, she only slept with the same man once before going all black widow on them. Powerful women always seem to have sexually murderous and promiscuous gossip attached to them – perchance to discredit?
What is true is that she was ruthless in doing what she considered best for her kingdom including participating in the slave trade as well as happily owning slaves herself. Rumours also abound about her ascension to the throne following her brother’s death in 1623. Some sources believe she poisoned him. If she did then she’s in good or should we say bad company with half of history’s royalty.
Above all Nzinga is held up as a symbol of resistance and independence.
Pauline Bonaparte Borghese (20 October 1780–9 June 1825)
In character, beautiful Maria Paoletta Buonaparte, aka Pauline Bonaparte, resembles the giddy Lizzie Bennett from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Thoughtless, impulsive, vain, childish, selfish, a romantic predilection for soldiers and a life spent in devout pursuit of pleasure, preferably hers.
She’s not a woman to particularly admire or aspire to and she achieved little of consequence. Indeed she is known only for her connection as younger sister (by eleven years) to Napoleon. And yet she is so outrageous and contradictory a figure that it seems unjust not to include her. It must be noted that out of all Napoleon’s siblings she was the only one to remain loyal to him.
Her first husband was likely not her first choice, although considering her brother found them in a compromising position, marriage in 1797 was the only option. French Officer Victoire Leclerc, a general in Napoleon’s army, was duly given a proper leg up the career ladder and made Governor General of Saint-Domingue (Haiti), where he would die of fever in 1802. Pauline was never faithful to him and had a string of lovers.
Following his death, together with their son Dermide, Pauline returned to France, where Napoleon arranged a second marriage to the equally vain and fickle Italian nobleman Prince Camillo Borghese. Pauline didn’t respect him (apparently he wasn’t well endowed enough for her) and flirted up a storm around him, behaviour that didn’t go down well with her big brother.
Madame and Dear Sister, – I have learned with pain that you have not the good sense to conform to the manners and customs of the city of Rome; that you show contempt for the inhabitants, and that your eyes are unceasingly turned towards Paris. Although occupied with vast affairs I nevertheless desire to make known my wishes, and I hope that you will conform to them.
Love your husband and his family, be amiable, accustom yourself to the usages of Rome, and put this in your head, that if you follow bad advice you will no longer be able to count upon me. You may be sure that you will find no support in Paris, and that I shall never receive you there without your husband. If you quarrel with him it will be your fault, and France will be closed to you. You will sacrifice your happiness and my esteem.
However being married into such wealth did have its advantages – Pauline used her riches to help finance some of her brother’s campaigns. She commissioned two statues by renowned sculptor Antonio Canova and promptly scandalised him by insisting on posing nude. The sculptures can be seen at the Borghese Palace in Rome. She detested both of Napoleon’s wives Josephine and the later Marie Louise, but proved to be a devoted sister, moving to Elba when Napoleon was sent there in exile. When he was exiled to St Helena after the Battle of Waterloo, Pauline returned to Rome to live in the aptly named Villa Paulina.
The favourite sister of Napoleon Bonaparte died at the age of 44 from a suspected cancerous tumour of the stomach.
Penthesilea, Queen of the Amazons
The daughter of Ares, the Greek God of War, and Otrera, the first Amazon Queen, Penthesilea was the mythological Queen of the Amazons of Asia Minor during the Trojan War.
The Amazons were a legendary race of warrior women that you really, really wouldn’t have wanted to get on the wrong side of. Legend has it that they were so dedicated to their warrior craft, that they’d cut off one of their breasts so as to be able to wield a bow better.
Penthesilea was beautiful and wise. Highly skilled in weaponry and a fierce warrior, Roman historian Pliny claims that Penthesilea invented the battle axe. Her story is told in the lost Greek literary epic Aethiopis, of which only five lines survive.
Her tale is tempered by tragedy. Whilst out hunting she accidentally killed her sister Hippolyte with (depending on the story you read) either an arrow or a spear. Consumed by grief and regret, she wanted only to die, but as a warrior could only do so honourably in battle. She pledged her support to King Priam of Troy and prepared for battle in the Trojan War alongside her personal guard of twelve fellow Amazons (Antibrote, Ainia, Clete, Alcibie, Antandre, Bremusa, Derimacheia, Derinoe, Harmothoe, Hippothoe, Polemusa and Thermodosa).
Rising early on her first (and last) day of battle, she prepared herself. Determined to redeem her soul, she channelled her rage against Achilles, who had killed the Trojan Prince Hector, and vowed to dispatch him. It must have been one hell of a hand-to-hand fight between two epic warriors, especially considering one was the daughter of the God of War and the other was, apart from his ‘heel’, immortal.
Ultimately however Penthesilea died at Achilles’ hand as he thrust his sword through her breast and impaled her. Removing her helmet, Achilles fell completely in love with her. (Or, as other stories have it, he committed necrophilia and had sex with her corpse.)
Fellow Greek solider Thersites mocked Achilles for his romantic weakness and in a ‘Hulk punches Thor’ moment, killed him. In revenge for that (you can see where the phrase ‘Greek tragedy’ comes in handy) Thersites’s cousin Diomedes fixed Penthesilea’s body to the back of his chariot, dragged it to the Scamander River and unceremoniously dumped it. Achilles retrieved it and returned it to the Trojans for its rightful burial.
Poignantly her name means ‘mourned by the people’, from the Greek words ‘penthos’ and ‘laos’ and her story became a firm favourite amongst Greek vase painters. For Harry Potter fans out there, Virgil referred to her as ‘Bellatrix’, perhaps the inspiration for the character Bellatrix Lestrange. And for DC comic fans (we salute you), Wonder Woman is a fictional Amazonian heroine.
Phoolan Devi (1963–2001)
It’s not good enough to just chronicle the heroines of history. We need to know history’s girls for all the flaws, weaknesses and peculiarities that made them human. Bandit Queen Phoolan Devi was a deeply complex character. Worshipped by the downtrodden lower caste people of India, especially the women, she is a folk hero and was dubbed the Indian ‘Robin Hood’. As a bandit she only raided upper caste communities and would then redistribute her spoils to the poor.
However, this Robin Hood had a tinge of Bonnie and Clyde about her. Her raids were vicious and her acts of retribution, on the men who had brutalised her, were savage. Many Indians saw her as a feared and violent criminal, responsible for India’s greatest mass killing. It was nicknamed the ‘St Valentine’s Day Massacre Mark 2’, in which she was alleged to have murdered twenty-two men. This is a damning indictment but the back story to her acts of violence make judging her actions morally ambiguous.
In 1963 Phoolan was born in Utter Pradesh to a lower caste family, only one rung up fr
om the wretched Dalit ‘untouchable’ class. The hierarchical system in India was still very much in play. Similar to many lower caste village girls she was married off ridiculously young at the age of 11 to Putti Lal, a brutal man in his 30s. He repeatedly raped and brutalised her and then threw her back to her parents. In her autobiography Phoolan says her parents rescued her.
Regardless, she was now seen as a disgrace in her village. And then following a dispute with her cousin, who had taken family land, she was arrested after his house was ‘conveniently’ burgled. She was taken to jail and raped in front of her father. By the time they released her she was considered worse than an ‘untouchable’, forbidden to drink from the well and thus contaminate it. This made her fair game to the upper caste villagers who used and abused her as they saw fit. She was the ripe old age of 13.
Conveniently Phoolan was kidnapped by the Devi, Indian word for bandits, and was no longer the cousin’s problem or the village’s disgrace. Ironically things began looking up for her for a few seconds anyway. She fell in love with Vikram Singh Mallah, the second in command, after he killed the leader Babu Singh, who was attempting to rape her. For a brief time the two of them led their outlaw posse on several raids as they surfed their righteous crime wave.
It all ended abruptly when a rival gang, resenting competition especially from a lower caste upstart of a girl, ambushed the couple one night. They killed Vikram and carried Phoolan off to a sickening nightmare. They paraded her naked in the village of Behmai where she was gang raped repeatedly for three weeks until she managed to escape. This was the village that would witness the infamous Indian St Valentine’s Day Massacre on 14 February 1981. Following her escape she teamed up with Man Singh, a friend of Vikram’s, to form a truly fearsome band of outlaws intent on retribution.