Famous women in West and East
Greek and Latin means difficult to understand!
And this article is very lengthy but you will enjoy and may be, find names for your children, pups or enemies.
This is like Cricket rating by different companies and sponsors.
The West always relies on Greek and Latin. And most of them are famous or infamous Queens. The names of famous women in West:
Eve, the first woman in the bible
Semiramis, queen of the Assyrians, Opis, wife of Saturn
Juno, goddess of the Kingdoms, Ceres, goddess of the harvest and queen of Sicily
Minerva, Venus, queen of Cyprus
Isis, queen and goddess of Egypt, Europa, queen of Crete
Libya, queen of Libya, Marpesia and Lampedo, queens of the Amazons
Thisbe, a Babylonian maiden, Hypermnestra, queen of the Argives and priestess of Juno
Niobe, queen of Thebes, Hypsipyle, queen of Lemnos
Medea, queen of Colchis, Arachne of Colophon
Orithya and Antiope, queens of the Amazons
The Sybil Erythraea or Heriphile, Medusa, daughter of Phorcus
Iole, daughter of the king of the Aetolians
Deianira, wife of Hercules, Jocasta, queen of Thebes
The Sybil Almathea, or Deiphebe
Nicostrata, or Carmenta, daughter of King Ionius
Procris, wife of Cephalus
Argia, wife of Polynices and daughter of King Adrastus
Manto, daughter of Tiresias, The wives of the Minyans
Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons
Polyxena, daughter of King Priam, Hecuba, queen of the Trojans
Cassandra, daughter of King Priam of Troy
Clytemnestra, queen of Mycenae, Helen, wife of King Menelaus
Circe, daughter of the Sun, Camilla, queen of the Volscians
Penelope, wife of Ulysses, Lavinia, queen of Laurentum
Dido, or Elissa, queen of Carthage, Nicaula, queen of Ethiopia
Pamphile, daughter of Platea, Rhea Ilia, Vestal Virgin
Gaia Cyrilla, wife of King Tarquinius Priscus
Sappho, girl of Lesbos and poetess, Lucretia, wife of Collatinus
Tamyris, queen of Scythia
Leaena, a prostitute - beloved by Demetrius I of Macedon
Athaliah, queen of Jerusalem, Cloelia, a Roman maiden
Hippo, a Greek woman, Megullia Dotata - daughter of Caeso Tuccius
Veturia, a Roman matron, Thamyris, daughter of Micon
Artemisia, queen of Caria, Verginia, virgin and daughter of Virginius
Eirene, daughter of Cratinus,Olympias, queen of Macedonia
Claudia, a Vestal Virgin, Virginia, Wife of Lucius Volumnius
Flora the prostitute, goddess of flowers and wife of Zephyrus, A young Roman woman
Marcia, daughter of Varro, Sulpicia, wife of Fulvius Flaccus
Harmonia, daughter of Gelon, son of Hiero II of Syracuse
Busa of Canosa di Puglia, Sophonisba, queen of Numidia
Theoxena, daughter of Prince Herodicus
Berenice, queen of Cappadocia
The Wife of Orgiagon the Galatian
Tertia Aemilia, wife of the elder Africanus
Dripetrua, queen of Laodice - daughter of Mithridates VI of Pontus
Sempronia, daughter of Gracchus, Claudia Quinta, a Roman woman
Hypsicratea, Queen of Pontus, Sempronia, a Roman Woman
The Wives of the Cimbrians, Julia, daughter of the dictator Julius Caesar
Portia, daughter of Cato Uticensis, Curia, wife of Quintus Lucretius
Hortensia, daughter of Quintus Hortensius, Sulpicia, wife of Cruscellio
Cornificia, a poetess, Mariamme, queen of Judaea
Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, Antonia, daughter of Antony
Agrippina, wife of Germanicus, Paulina, a Roman woman
Agrippina, mother of the Emperor Nero
Epicharis, a freedwoman, Pompeia Paulina, wife of Seneca,
Poppaea Sabina, wife of Nero
Triaria, wife of Lucius Vitellius, Proba, wife of Adelphus
Faustina Augusta, Symiamira, woman of Emesa
Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, Joan, an Englishwoman and Pope
Irene, Empress of Constantinople, Gualdrada, a Florentine maiden
Constance, Empress of Rome and queen of Sicily
Camiola, a Sienese widow, Joanna, queen of Jerusalem and Sicily
The East has more famous women (Old and Modern).
To me the immediate ones to my mind are:
Religious (Recent and not from mythology)
Mother Teresa
Annai from Pondicherry
Matha Amrinandamayi
Sarada Devi (wife of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa)
Freedom fighters:
Jhansi Rani Lakshmi bhai
Jijabhai (mother of Chatrapathi Shivaji)
Jakkamma (Wife of Kataabomman)
Sarojini Naidu
Mythology:
Saptha Rishis’ wives
Seetha Devi (wife of Rama)
Draupadi (wife of Pandavas)
Gandhari (wife of Dirudarastra)
Mandodari (wife of Ravana)
Wife of Raja Harichandra
Modern and Living:
Pepsi chief – Indira Nooyi
Space shuttle – Kalpana Chawla
Nana Patkar (Environment Protection Fighter)
Menaka Gandhi (In-law of Indira Gandhi)- Environment Protection fighter and ex-Minister)
Notorious and Political:
Rabri Devi (wife of Laloo Prasad)
Jayalalitha
Now to excerpts from Web and Wikipedia:
Hindu scripture, particularly of the earlier period, places great value on contributions of women. The much-reported abuses of women in India demonstrate a falling away from traditional practice. Many famous women serve as lasting role models, though with the influence of feminism such values are less popular with the younger generation or need reinterpretation to suit the current social context.
Such famous figures are extremely diverse and include deities (such as Sita and Parvati), historical or mythological figures (such as Draupadi from the Mahabharata), political activists (for example, the Queen of Jhansi), and saints and spiritual leaders (e.g. Mirabai and Anandamayi). A more complete list is given below.
Sita – The wife of Lord Rama, considered part of the Godhead. For many Hindus, Sita is the ideal example of womanhood and a dutiful wife.
Kunti – The mother of the five Pandava princes. Her devotion to Lord Krishna never faltered even in great adversity. She is one of the “five virtuous women.” The others are Draupadi (see below), Mandodari (the wife of Ravana), Ahalya (wife of the sage Gautama), and Tara (the wife of Vali, the monkey king killed by Rama).
Draupadi – The wife of all five Pandavas. She was insulted in the royal court and, as a result, millions of warriors perished on the plains of Kurukshetra. A chaste yet powerfully assertive woman, she displayed both fiery anger and remarkable compassion.
Damayanti – Wife of Nala.Together they demonstrated unflinching devotion to each other.
Savitri – By her selfless devotion she saved her husband from the court of Yama, the Lord of Death.
Andal (725–755) – The only woman amongst the South Indian Alvars (poet mystics). Andal was so overwhelmed with love for Vishnu that she refused to marry anyone else. According to tradition she merged into the deity of Vishnu after being formally married to him.
Akka Mahadevi (12th century) – A medieval women saint with an unusually modern outlook. She was devoted to Lord Shiva. The Lingayats venerate her as a symbol of the equality of women and as an early exponent of women’s emancipation.
Mirabai (1547–1614) – Great saint, born in a royal family and famous for her songs and her devotion to Lord Krishna, whom she considered her eternal husband.
The Queen of Jhansi (1835–1858) – Famous for fearlessly fighting against the British.
Kasturaba Gandhi (1869–1944) – Wife of Gandhi; still greatly honoured as a devoted wife by the Hindu community.
Helena Blavatski (1831–1875) – One of the early foreigners (from Russia) to take up Hiduism, she co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875 along with Annie Bessant (1847–1933), an English woman and prolific writer, who became the society’s president in 1907.
Anandamayi (1896–1982) – A well-known female yogi from Bengal with a large following and many centres throughout India. She is credited with many miracles.
Sita
The daughter of King Janaka. She is the heroine of the Ramayana. As Rama’s only wife, she resolved to undergo the hardships of forest life rather than leave her husband. Out of infatuation for her, the tyrant Ravana met his ignoble end. After he kidnapped her, she refused to submit to his adulterous advances. Sita is considered to embody all the virtues of a traditional Hindu woman and has been held up as a role model for Hindu girls to follow. Some modern feminists have objected to this notion as being sexist.
Draupadi
A central figure in the Mahabharata. Born of the sacrificial fire in King Drupada’s court, she became the common wife of all five Pandava brothers. King Jayadratha tried to kidnap her, and she fought like a true warrior queen. She demonstrated how a traditionally devoted wife can also be powerfully assertive.
Once, Yudhisthira lost her in a rigged gambling match and the Kauravas tried to disrobe her before the entire royal assembly. In the attempt to strip her, the kings present failed to intervene, and thus sowed the seeds of their destruction on the plains of Kurukshetra. The Mahabharata thus illustrates the ancient ideal of valuing and protecting women, and the terrible consequence of neglecting or exploiting them.
Mirabai
Although many Hindu heroines exemplify the traditional role of women, others have opposed or transcended tradition when it declined into abuse. Mira was one such example. Born in 1547 in a Rajput (warrior) family in Rajastan, she became an ardent devotee of Krishna. At a young age, she resolved that only he could be her future bridegroom. She was, however, duly married into a Shakti-worshipping household. She refused to abandon the worship of Krishna for the Goddess, and was victimised by her husband. She left for Vrindavana, but returned when her husband reformed. Upon his death, she refused to perform sati and was persecuted by her husband’s family. The new king tried to kill her but by Krishna’s grace she survived. She finally abandoned her husbans’s palace to lead the life of a wandering saint. She sang and danced in public, unconcerned for social decorum and finally it is said that she mystically entered a murti of Krishna. Her poems and songs express her intense feelings for Krishna and are still sung and recited by devotees today.
Quote
“Worldly comfort is an illusion, No sooner you get it, it goes. I have chosen the Indestructible for my refuge.” - Mirabai
Queen Kunti, heroine of the Mahabharata, is famous for her heartfelt prayers to Lord Krishna. She wears the white sari of a widow.
Today, Hindu women are prominent in all walks of life. Worldwide popularity has favoured a number of female gurus, such as Mother Meera, “Nirmila Devi, and Amritanandamayi Devi. Indira Betti is particularly well known in Britain. Mother Gayathri, a popular guru in Britain, is shown here.
Famous Japanese Women:
Probably the second most significant book from the Heian period (794-1185 A.D.) is The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon. The book consists of a series of anecdotes, often keen and poetic, stemming from a life spent in the imperial court
The above print, a portrait of the famous Heian author, Sei Shonagon, provides a good example of Heian court dress as well as the ideals of female beauty from that period. The inclusion of this portrait of Sei Shonagon in the book entitled Tales of Famous Women from the Past and Present, printed between 1786 and 1864, shows the enduring influence that women writers in the Heian period have had on Japanese culture.
Masako, one of the most formidable political figures to take a place on the stage of Japan’s warrior government, was the daughter of Hôjô Tokimasa and was married to Minamoto Yoritomo. Following the death of her husband (who had become the first Minamoto shôgun in 1192), Masako took up a nun’s habit, accepting the tonsure from the priest Gyôyû in 1199. She by no means retired from politics, however, and worked closely with her father to secure the power of the Hôjô in Kamakura.
Oichi
Oda Nobunaga’s Sister
Few women in Japanese history have quite the pathos of Oichi, a sister of Oda Nobunaga renowned for her beauty. She was initially was married to Shibata Katsuie after the latter begged pardon for an abortive rebellion in 1557. Following Nobunaga’s conquest of Mino in 1567, Nobunaga made Shibata divorce Oichi so that she might be sent as wife to the young Asai Nagamasa, lord of N. Ômi province. Through Nagamasa she bore one son (Manjumaru) and three daughters.
Tokuko (Kenrei-Mon-In)
1155-1213
Wife of the Emperor Takakura
The fate of the Heike clan has often been considered tragic, and with good reason. The sad tale of Tokuko provides a prologue to this story. She was born the daughter of Taira Kiyomori (1118-1181), an ambitious and talented man who managed to lift the Taira (or Heike) to a place of great power in the second half of the 12th Century
Tomoe Gozen
Woman warrior
Tomoe Gozen provides one of the few examples of a true woman warrior in early to early modern Japanese history. While countless other women were at times forced to take up arms (in defense of their castle, for example), Tomoe seems to have been a consummate warrior. She was married to Kiso (Minamoto) Yoshinaka (though the Heike Monogatari describes her as a female attendant), who rose against the Taira and in 1184 took Kyoto after winning the Battle of Kurikawa.
Modern Famous Indian Women in chronological order:
1905: Suzanne RD Tata becomes the first Indian woman to drive a car.[19]
1916: The first women’s university, SNDT Women’s University, was founded on June 2, 1916 by the social reformer Dhondo Keshav Karve with just five students.
1944: Harita Kaur Deol becomes the first Indian woman to perform a solo flight.
1951: Prem Mathur becomes the first Indian women commercial pilot of the Deccan Airways
1959: Anna Chandy becomes the first Indian woman Judge of High Court[20]
1966: Captain Durga Banerjee becomes the first Indian woman pilot of the state airline, Indian Airlines.
1966: Indira Gandhi becomes the first women Prime Minister of India
1970: Kamaljit Sandhu becomes the first Indian woman to win a Gold in the Asian Games
1972: Kiran Bedi becomes the first female recruit to join the Indian Police Service.[21]
1989: Justice M. Fathima Beevi becomes the first woman judge of the Supreme Court of India.[22]
November 1997: Kalpana Chawla becomes the first Indian woman to go into Space.[23]
2004: Punita Arora becomes the first woman in the Indian Army to don the highest rank of Lt General.
2005: Manndhir Rajput, a 34-year-old woman from Ludhiana, Punjab becomes the first Indian woman to become an engine driver of trains with the New South Wales Rail Corporation, Australia.[24]
2006: V Shantha, cancer specialist, wins Ramon Magsaysay award for public service
The list is not an end. There are thousands of Women around the world with a warm heart,
And I am happy that Wimbledon has at last announced the same Prize Money for Men and Women.
My great attraction and inspiration has always been Lord Shiva sharing his HALF in mind and body with Parvati, The idea itself is of great respect!
The combined deity of Shiva and Parvati is called ARDHA-NARESSWARA.
A great blend of forces, to beat any womens’ lib concept in the world.
Sure in the world of service as a Nurse Florence Nihtinglae remans in my heart.
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