From the moment she married a handsome young Sikh at a registry office in Oxford in 1933, Freda Bedi, nee Houlston, regarded herself as Indian, even though it was another year before she set foot in the country. She was English by birth and upbringing--and Indian by marriage, cultural affinity and political loyalty. Later, she travelled the world as a revered Buddhist teacher, but India would remain her home to the end.

The life of Freda Bedi is a remarkable story of multiple border crossings. Born in a middle-class home in provincial England, she became a champion of Indian nationalism, even serving time in jail in Lahore as a Satyagrahi. In Kashmir in the 1940s, while her husband B.P.L. Bedi drafted the 'New Kashmir' manifesto, she assisted underground left-wing Kashmiri nationalists, and joined a women's militia to defend Srinagar from invading Pakistani tribesmen. In 1959, she persuaded Nehru to give her a role coordinating efforts to help Tibetan refugees who came with the Dalai Lama and immersed herself in the project, setting up a nunnery and a school for young lamas. Some years later, she became the first western woman, and possibly the first woman ever, to receive full ordination as a Tibetan Buddhist nun.

This meticulously researched and superbly written biography does perfect justice to Freda Bedi's extraordinary life. By interviewing her children and friends, and delving into the family's extensive archives of letters and recordings--as well as official records and newspaper archives--Andrew Whitehead paints a compelling picture of a woman who challenged barriers of nation, religion, race and gender, always remaining true to her strong sense of justice and equity.
Lives of Freda: The Political, Spiritual and Personal Journeys of Freda Bedi, Andrew Whitehead, Speaking Tiger Publishing, 354 pp, $19.00

'Andrew Whitehead' is-much like the subject of this biography-a British-born journalist who married into India and brought his family up in Delhi. He spent four years as the BBC India correspondent and later was a BBC News presenter and the Editor of BBC World Service News. Andrew studied history at Oxford University and has a PhD for his work on the history of Kashmir. He is the author of A Mission in Kashmir, which uses oral history and personal testimony to re-examine the established narratives of that long-running crisis. He has also been a longstanding editor of 'History Workshop Journal', a twice-yearly publication from Oxford University Press which has pioneered 'history from below'. He now lives in London and is an honorary professor at the University of Nottingham in England and a visiting professor at the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai.

CONTENTS: the Lives of Freda
Introduction		ix
Timeline		xv
Tibetan Buddhist Terms		xvii
Prologue: Putting on the Robes		1
1.	The Suicide Club	9
2.	The Gates of the World	19
3.	Everything That Was Good in Us	42
4.	Your People Shall Be My People	63
5.	The Huts beyond Model Town	81
6.	A Martyr Awaiting Execution	92
7.	Behind the Mud Walls	105
8.	From a Woman's Window	130
9.	Bengal Lamenting	143
10.	Kashmir in Disguise	156
11.	A New World	177
12.	Buddha and Baba	193
13.	Brave and Wonderful People	208
14.	The Young Lamas' Home School	228
15.	A Nun's Life	250
16.	Seeding the West	265
17.	Sister and Mother	288
18.	Postscript	300
Notes		307
Acknowledgements		333
Bibliography		337
Index		346