First Punjabi woman Sikh warrior - Mai Bhago

First Punjabi woman Sikh warrior - Mai Bhago

Mai Bhago, a staunch Sikh by birth and famously known as Mata Bhag Kaur was the first Punjabi woman to lead troops on a battlefield in 1705. She was a staunch follower and devotee of Guru Gobind Singh Ji who founded the Khalsa Panth. Mai Bhago was a great Sikh woman, with a keski around her head and khalsa uniform, dressed like a Niahng who became the first Sikh woman in the history of Punjab, to fight on a battlefield. She was a descendant of Pero Shah, the younger brother of Bhai Launga a Dhillon Jatt. She was born in Jhabal village, in the present-day Amritsar district of Punjab. She was married to Nidhan Singh Varaich of Patti.

Mai Bhago had taken the military training from her father, Malo Shah and she was admirer of the freedom and equality that prevailed in her society. Some say that her family viewed having a girl child as lucky and was named “Bhag Bhari” which means “fortunate” or “one who is full of good fortune”. Mai Bhago’s great grandfather was a follower of Sakhi Sarwar, a Mystic Pir, and later on converted to Islam under the name Abu-a-Khair, but some say that he converted to Sikhi. As a young girl she grew up in a family who had close relationship with the Gurus and the Injustices of the Mughals. She had also learnt the art of warfare, archery, and horse-riding from her father with an ultimate goal of joining Guru’s army. It is believed that she always carried a long sang (spear) with her always and would practice around her village.

Mai Bhago lived during the times of Aurangzeb Alamgir, one of the most violent Mughal rulers. Aurangzeb’s hatred for Sikhs was so strong that he was ready to end the entire community and decided to wage a major military campaign against the 10^th Sikh leader, Guru Gobind Singh Ji. He had sent hundreds of thousands of troops against the Sikhs’ much smaller army. Overtime the Sikh troops died or were deserted and Guru Gobind Singh Ji was forced to go into hiding when Mughals and hilly chiefs had surrounded Anandpur and were demanding it be evacuated. Mughals put forward a proposal in front of the 40 Sikhs that they will allow them to go unhurt if they declare that they are not a Sikh of Guru Gobind Singh anymore. All the 40 Sikhs at that time had signed the document stating that “they are not his Sikhs anymore” and left their Guru.

Mai Bhago was distressed to hear that some of the Sikhs of her neighbourhood had deserted their Guru under such difficult conditions. She decided to go to Anandpur Sahib to fight for Guru Gobind Singh instead of convincing them to change their minds. She stormed into the Battle of Khidrana, embarrassing the 40 men enough to follow her for the battle. Under her leadership, the men fought fiercely till their last breath forcing the enemy chasing Guru Gobind Singh to withdraw. She inflicted so much of damage onto Mughals that they had to ultimately give up their attack and retreat back in the darkness in the nearby woods.  Later on Guru Gobind Singh forgave these 40 Sikhs and renamed them as chaali mukte (the forty liberated) and the village of Khidrana as Muktsar (the pool of liberation). After the battle Guru Gobind Singh fulfilled Mai Bhago’s wish to be his bodyguard. However some claim that Mai Bhago became a wandering ascetic and was later brought back into Sikhi fold by Guru Sahib.

After her death, her home was maintained as a scared site. It is currently maintained by Gurdwara Nanak Jhira Sahib, Bidar.