A woman is regarded as a significant part of the Sikh community and an equal in all respects. She received the utmost reverence for her role in the family and and society. The birth of a daughter is not considered inauspicious. Females have the same soul as a man, she has an equal right to grow spiritually and to attend religious congregations, as well as to recite divine hymns in the Sikh temple. She is also eligible to participate and perform all ceremonies including Baptism. Sikh women do not put on a veil, but wearing clothes which expose the body and may breed lustful thoughts is considered dishonourable for men and women.

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Notable women In Sikh History

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Mai Bhago (Punjabi: ਮਾਈ ਭਾਗੋ) also known as Mai Bhag Kaur was a Sikh woman who led Sikh soldiers against the Mughals in 1705. She was an exceptionally skilled warrior on the battlefield and is revered as a saint in Sikhism.  She was known for rallying the 40 Sikhs (Chali Mukte) who abandoned Guru Gobind Singh at the siege of Anandpur Sahib and bringing them back to fight.

Early life

Mai Bhago was born in her family’s ancestral village of Jhabal Kalan, in the present-day Tarn Taran district of the Punjab. Mai Bhago was a staunch Sikh by birth and had her upbringing in a devout Sikh family. Mai Bhago’s father, Malo Shah, was enrolled in Guru Hargobind’s army and like her father Mai Bhago learned Shaster vidya (training in arms). Mai Bhago was the granddaughter of Bhai Pero Shah who was younger brother of the famous Bhai Langah the chief of 84 villages who had converted to Sikhism during the time of Guru Arjan Dev (1563–1606), the fifth Sikh Guru. She had two brothers Dilbagh Singh and Bhag Singh. When she was young her parents took her to Anandpur Sahib to do darshan (glimpse) of Guru Gobind Singh. She married Bhai Nidhan Singh of Patti.

Mughal confrontation

In attempt to capture the Guru the large Mughal army led by Wazir Khan (of Sirhind) under the orders of Emperor Aurangzeb proceeded to Anandpur Sahib alongside the Mughal Armies of Lahore and Kashmir, and the Hindu hill rajas.

Disbandment of the Chali Mukte (40 “librated” Sikhs)

On around 1704 the Mughals and the Hindu hill chiefs had surrounded Anandpur Sahib and were demanding it be evacuated stopping provisions for food and the siege lasting a few months. They announced that any Sikh who would say that “he/she is not anymore a Sikh of Guru Gobind” would be left untouched while others would be “done to death”. A group of 40 Sikhs (Chali Mukte), led by Mahan Singh Brar, told Guru Gobind Singh that they were not his Sikhs anymore. The Guru told them that they would have to write a document that said “We are not your Sikhs anymore” and sign it. All forty Sikhs (except one: ‘Bedava’) wrote their names on this document, and left Guru Gobind Singh.

Mai Bhago’s retaliation

Mai Bhago was distressed to hear that some of the Sikhs of her neighbourhood, who had gone to Anandpur to fight for Guru Gobind Singh, had deserted him under adverse conditions. She criticized them openly hearing her taunts these Sikhs were ashamed of their betrayal. Mai Bhago rallied the deserters, and persuaded them to meet with the Guru and apologize to him. She set off with them (and some other Sikhs) to seek out the Guru, who was then traveling across the Malva region.

Unfolding events at Anandpur Sahib

A messenger arrived with an oath signed by Aurangzeb on a copy of the Quran, assuring the Guru that if he came out of the fort, permanent peace would be negotiated on honourable terms. The oath of the Emperor was further supported by signed oath by all the Generals of the Mughal army and the Hill Chiefs. Guru Gobind Singh did not trust these assurancess but to show the real face of the Mughals the Guru decided to leave the fort.

Seperation of the Guru’s family

Meanwhile, Guru Gobind Singh evacuated the fort of Anandpur, and his children had been separated in the retreat by the betraying Mughal army and the Hill Chiefs. The two youngest ones, Sahibzada Zorawar Singhand Sahibzada Fateh Singh, had gone along with their grandmother Mata Gujari Kaur (mother of Guru Gobind Singh Ji) while the elder two, Sahibzada Ajit Singh and Sahibzada Jhujhar Singh, had gone with their father. At the battle of Chamkaur, the Guru’s elder sons were killed and attained martyrdom. The Guru left Chamkaur on the order of the Panj Pyare. Guru Gobind Singh’s forces travelled day and night through the jungles of the Malva region with the imperial Mughal forces of Aurangzeb in constant pursuit.

Battle of Muktsar at Khidrana

The Guru had reached the village of Khidrana, when Mai Bhago and the men she led stopped near the dhab, or pool, of Khidrana, the only source of water in the area which was overtaken by the Mughal imperial army pursuing the Guru.

Mai Bhago and her men attacked the pursuing Mughals and eventually had them retreat, while the Guru’s forces showered arrows onto the Mughals from nearby high ground. When Guru Gobind Singh visited the battlefield, he found all dead except Mai Bhago and the previous leader of the deserters, Mahan Singh. Mahan Singh, who had been seriously wounded, died as the Guru took him into his lap. All forty of the Sikhs who came to redeem themselves died as well as Mai Bhago’s brothers and husband and attained martyrdom in this pitched battle. Some sources say Mai Bhago’s children were martyred there too.

Guru Gobind Singh blessed those forty dead as the Chali Mukte, Forty Liberated Ones. He took into his care Mai Bhago, who had suffered serious injury  in the battle.

Mai Bhag Kaur residing with the Guru

Mai Bhago stayed with Guru Gobind Singh at Talwandi Sabo. She may have adopted the garb of a Nihang. Mai Bhago became so spiritually absorbed that, according to the famous historical text Suraj Parkash, she would be absorbed in samadhi; her experiences were so profound that she forsook all her clothes and began living life nakedly as a sadhni.The Guru however ordered her to wear a small turban, Kacchera, and wrap her self in a blanket as well as return to worldly ways and walk in Maryada (code of conduct). When the Guru went to Hazur Sahib she became one of ten other bodyguards of the Guru arming herself with a large lance (weighing about 102 pounds)  and musket and did so in male attire.

Mai Bhag Kaur at Janwara

After the death of Guru Gobind Singh Ji at Nanded in 1708, Mai Bhag Kaur retired further south. She settled down at Janwara, 11 km from Bidar in Karnataka, setting up her Dera where she immersed in meditation and taught Gurmat (The Guru’s way) living a long life.  Her hut in Jinvara has now been converted into a place of worship and learning, Gurdwara Tap Asthan Mai Bhago. At Nanded, too, a hall within the compound of Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib marking the site of her former residence is known as Bunga Mai Bhago.

Sada Kaur (Punjabi: ਸਦਾ ਕੌਰ; c. 1762 – 1832) was the chief of the Kanhaiya Misl from 1789 to 1821. She was the wife of Gurbaksh Singh Kanhaiya, the heir of Jai Singh Kanheya, the leader of the Kanhaiya Misl.

After her husband’s death in 1785 and her father-in-law’s death in 1789, she became the chief of the Kanhaiya Misl. An intelligent and ambitious woman, she was also the mother-in-law of Maharaja Ranjit Singh (the founder of the Sikh Empire) and played an important role in his rise to power in Punjab.

Early life and marriage

Sada Kaur was born into a Dhaliwal Jat family in 1762 to Sardar Daswandha Singh Dhaliwal.She was married in 1766 to the 7 year-old Gurbaksh Singh, the eldest son and heir of Jai Singh, the head of the Kanhaiya Misl. They were married in 1768 and had one child together, a beautiful daughter named Mehtab Kaur, who was born in 1782.

Leadership of the Kanhaiya Misl

Gurbaksh Singh died fighting in the Battle of Batala against the Sukerchakia Misl, the Ramgarhia Misl as well as the Sansar Chand Katoch. In 1785, Sada Kaur, along with Jai Singh Kanhaiya, then got her daughter married to Ranjit Singh, the Sukerchakia Misl’s chief’s son, and they were married in 1786. In 1789, her father-in-law, Jai Singh Kanheya, also died. Sada Kaur then assumed the leadership of the Kanhaiya Misl as well as the loyalty of its 8,000 cavalrymen. After the death of his father, Mahan Singh, in 1792 Ranjit Singh was made the chief of the Sukerchakia Misl and Sada Kaur became his regent. Sada Kaur used both Kanheya and Sukerchakia misals to push Ranjit forward.

The people of Lahore who were tired of the rule of Bhangi misl requested Sada Kaur and Ranjit Singh to take over Lahore. Sada Kaur advised Ranjit that whoever controls Lahore controls Punjab. On 7 July 1799 Ranjit Singh and Sada Kaur attacked Lahore with 25,000 troops. The people of Lahore opened the city gates for them. Ranjit entered the city through Lohari gate and Sada Kaur entered through Delhi gate. Sada Kaur made Ranjit Singh the king of Lahore in 1801. In the battles for Amritsar, Chiniot, Kasur, Attock and Hazara she was with Ranjit Singh. In 1807 Ranjit Singh remarried. Sada Kaur did not approve of it. She broke with Ranjit. Then Sada Kaur thought of ruling her own state but Ranjit Singh restricted her movements. She retained the majority of her estates until 1820. Sada Kaur died in Lahore in 1832.

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Mata Khivi