She was beautiful when she died—a hundred years ago.

Before this calamity came upon us, you could not find anywhere a happier home than that created by the Indian woman. There was nothing of the artificial about her person, and very little disingenuousness in her character. Her early and consistent training, the definiteness of her vocation, and, above all, her profoundly religious attitude gave her a strength and poise that could not be overcome by any ordinary misfortune.

I once loved a woman, a child I am told

Once upon a time, in a land long since burned to ash, there lived a young princess who loved her kingdom …

Now there once was a lass, and a very pretty lass,
And she was an isotope's daughter

But in a time and age when it was uncommon for women to ascend the throne and vanquish foes by leading forces in battle, Rudrama Devi charted for herself an indelible place in the annals of the country.

One day she would be a formidable female, a creature to be reckoned with

In 1929 my mother was a Southern belle... It was about this time that she began to see herself as an Indian. That dim native heritage became a fascination and a cause... She imagined who she was. ...She was already a raving beauty. ...very black hair and very blue eyes; her skin... of an olive complexion... She moved... with certain confidence. Above all, she expected the world to be interesting; she would not stand to be bored. ...And she went off to Haskell Institute, the Indian school...

A simple maiden in her flower Is worth a hundred coats-of-arms.

... a severe woman with a patient but unprevaricating gaze, who turned out to be Indira Gandhi.

At length I saw a lady within call, Stiller than chisell'd marble, standing there; A daughter of the gods, divinely tall, And most divinely fair.

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee; — And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

A lady so richly clad as she,
Beautiful exceedingly!

So here is a question: if you were to identify a single person who embodies us Indians the best, who do you think it should be? Ideally, it should be a tribal woman because she is most likely to be carrying the deepest-rooted and widest-spread mtDNA lineage in India today, M2. In a genetic sense, she would represent all of our history, with very little left out. She shares the most with the largest number of Indians, no matter where in the social ladder they stand, what language they speak and which region they inhabit because we all migrants and we are all mixed. And she was here from the beginning. And she was most likely also at Mohenjo-daro as the 'dancing girl' (the image on the cover) about 4500 years ago, during the period that most shaped us as we are today.