India’s Everywomen in the Early Modern Archive

Abstract

In the summer of 2022, India’s media was awash with the election of Droupadi Murmu as the nation’s fifteenth president. Murmu is the first woman from a tribal community—the Santhal, of the village of Mayurbhanj in Odisha—to hold the office. PrimeMinister NarendraModi, who belongs to the same political party as Murmu, hailed her victory: “India scripts history. . . . She has emerged as a ray of hope for our citizens especially the poor, marginalized and the downtrodden.” Murmu’s advancement is a milestone because tribal groups are often victims of discrimination, with women doubly oppressed. However, “Droupadi” is not Murmu’s given first name, and “Murmu” is her husband’s surname. She was born Puti Tudu. A teacher renamed or, more accurately, relabeled her “Droupadi.” Puti was a local girl, one ofmany like her and subsisting as her ancestors did for millennia. Droupadi is the name of a queen in the great Indian epic The Mahabharatha. While Puti’s teacher may have been trying to honor or integrate her into mainstreamHindu culture by dubbing her “Droupadi,” either way doing so indicates that the teacher considered “Puti” insignificant enough to erase her indigeneity. So, who was Puti and who are similar Indian women of the everyday? In early modern scholarship, the focus—mine included—has been about women akin to “Droupadi Murmu,” women in politics or women elites, from queens like the