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Mai Bhago
(late 1600s - mid 1700s)
Savior of the Sikhs
When the dust cleared at the battle of Khidrana, one thing was clear: the Sikh religion had escaped extinction. This was due to the heroics of a ragtag group that came to their defense at the last minute—all of whom, save one, were now dead. That one? A woman named Mai Bhago.
But let’s take a step back and take a look at the history of the Sikhs. You probably know that they’re the men who wear turbans, don’t shave, and consistently get mistaken for Muslims by ignorant morons. Frustrating as that is, jerks attacking them for virtually no reason is something that Sikhs have had to live with for the majority of their religion’s existence. Exhibit A: the Mughal Empire.
The Mughals were tough customers. Their founder, Babar, had quite the lineage himself: descendant of Tamerlane (an Uzbeki warlord known for constructing pyramids out of his enemies’ skulls) on his father’s side and grandson of Genghis Khan on his mother’s. The Mughals carried on and refined this legacy. On the one hand, they did so militaristically, riding elephants into battle, redefining warfare, and expanding the empire until it encompassed all of present-day India and beyond. On the other hand, they also advanced literature, culture, and the arts tremendously. They built the Taj Mahal and giant libraries and had a tremendously multicultural empire. For more info on that, check out Akbar the Great, who—having brought together a huge number of disparate peoples, including the Sikhs, in a surprisingly peaceful, literary, and secular empire, especially for the time—definitely earned the moniker.
Unfortunately, by the time our story begins, the Mughals were being ruled by Aurangzeb, who was neither peaceful nor understanding. He was particularly aggressive toward the Sikhs, partly for religious reasons, and partly because the Sikhs weren’t down with the caste system. In fact, the Sikhs were egalitarian in general and considered women equal to men.
Which brings us to Mai Bhago.
Mai Bhago lived in a peaceful rural town with her parents. She spent a lot of time with her dad, who, during their daddy-daughter hangouts, taught her what any good father should: how to be a devoted Sikh, how to ride a horse, and how to kill anyone who starts a fight with you. All of these skills came in handy just a few years later when the leader of the Sikh, Guru Gobind Singh Ji, founded the Khalsa—the warrior-saints.
You see, the previous guru before Gobind Singh Ji—and there were only ever 10 of these guys total—was executed by Aurangzeb when was only nine years old. Rather than capitulating to Aurangzeb and living a quiet life, the guru ordered his followers to eschew the caste system, forsake their family names, be baptized as warrior-saints, and kick butt for the lord.
Mai Bhago was one of the first to get down on that.
The following years were very difficult on the Sikhs as the Mughals waged nonstop warfare on the guru. As tough as it was on him, it was arguably tougher on his warriors, holed up in fortress after fortress, eventually subsisting on nothing but nuts and leaves. After months of this, 40 of them, with heavy hearts, forsook the religion and left the Khalsa in order to return to their normal lives.
Mai Bhago was not on board with that decision. Upon hearing about the 40 deserters, she rode to every nearby city and convinced all the local women to refuse them hospitality. She even rounded up a group of women to take up arms in the deserters’ place—telling the 40 to either stay behind and look after the children or sack up and fight. Suitably ashamed by this, the 40 deserters had a change of heart.
This happened just in time, because as the 40 (plus Mai Bhago) were riding back to the guru, the Mughals were making another assault on the guru’s stronghold. The size of the army is difficult to determine from historical records, with the only source claiming the Mughals had 10,000 men, which seems a bit ridiculous. In any event, it is agreed that the Sikhs were massively outnumbered.
On December 29, 1705, the 41 Sikhs rushed in to cut off the Mughals anyway. They did several clever things leading up to and during the battle:
They positioned themselves in front of the Khidrana reservoir, the only source of water for miles around, and defended it viciously.
They laid sheets across bushes everywhere, giving the appearance of tents—and then hid nearby, ambushing the Mughals when they started attacking the empty “tents.”
They kicked up a colossal amount of dust, attracting the attention of the retreating guru—who proceeded to unleash an incessant barrage of arrows from a nearby hill upon the Mughals.
Eventually the Mughals, battered and thirsty, withdrew. All 40 of the deserters died in that battle, as did a large number of Mughal soldiers. Mai Bhago was the only Sikh survivor. From there, she became bodyguard to the guru. She outlived him and later died of old age. The Mughal Empire under Aurangzeb’s leadership began a slow decline and petered out over a century later. The Sikh religion continues strong to this day. Mai Bhago’s spear and gun can still be found in Sikh museums, and her house has been converted into a gurudwara (Sikh place of worship).
And lastly: although best known by the name Mai Bhago, technically her name, after she converted to the Khalsa, was Mai Bhag Kaur—Kaur being a surname all female Khalsa take, which roughly translates to “princess.”
(enjoy the art? you can get it as a poster, shirt or phone case!)Art Notes
- She is depicted here not just wearing the traditional Khalsa clothing, but that of the Nihang, an elite warrior Khalsa sect. This outfit includes a variety of bladed weapons (the Guru was known to have five weapons on him at all times), electric blue robes, steel-wrapped turbans, and steel bangles about the wrist. I am unsure if she was technically Nihang, but for damn sure she had their spirit.
- And yes, she is decapitating that guy. Follow the trail of dust to see the arc of her sword.
- Lastly: the Mughal being beheaded has period-accurate clothing, although his helmet is one of an infantryman and his outfit is that of a cavalryman. I wanted to be able to see his face.
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Do the Sikhs still believe in that egalitarianism? Curious
Arianna, Sikhs believe in equality of all people, gender, race, etc. We believe in one god (many names and paths…all going towards the same “ONE” creator). Read more at: http://www.sikhnet.com/pages/who-are-sikhs-what-sikhism
Thanks a bunch!
Ok, this is going to be a long list of request.
Jason love what you have done with Sita, Mai Bhago and Neerja Bhanot. hence would request you to add some more Indian women. For Example :-
1. Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi
2. Rani Durgavati of Gondwana
3. Rani Padmini
4. Rani Samyukta
5. Rani Chennamma of Kittur (I know a lot of ranis on the list)
6. Rani Ahilya Bai Holkar
7. Rani Jijabai
8. Rani Abakka
9. Sultana Razia
10. Begum Hazrat Mahal
11. Madam Bhikaji Cama
12. Captain Lakshmi Sehgal
13. Chand Bibi or Chand Sultana
14. Rani Avantibai
15. Indira Gandhi
In mythology Durga or Kali. Other than Indian if you could create something about Helen Keller, Rosa Parks, Edith Cavell………Waiting and thanks in advance
Thanks for the suggestions! I had nearly all of them on my list already — but Ahilyabai Holkar was new to me, so thank you!
If you have further suggestions, please use the contact form. It is difficult to keep track of correspondence across comments, facebook, tumblr, twitter, instagram, etc. :)
Ramen
Mai Bhago and many other sikh women still continue to inspire the sikh women of my generation to stand by the truth!
I would like you to correct something in this story.
“atfter months of this, with heavy hearts, forty of them forsook the
religion and left the Khalsa, in order to return to their normal lives.”
This line is not true. Guru’s Sikh were so strong willed that they never left him in any situation. The forty Sikh plus Mai Bhago were Sikh who gathered after hearing what happened to Guru at Anandpur Sahib. They left together to serve Guruji.
Could I trouble you to provide me a source to verify that? Respectfully, I have heard it differently in all other tellings of the story I’ve come across.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-6cGNifXK8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gwglxj-HjO4
I don’t know if you can understand punjabi but above are two people who studied Sikh history and give full detail with example from the history.
First video individual Col Surjit S Nishan is a Sikh scholar and Bhai Harjinder Singh Sabhra is a Sikh preacher and professor of Gurmat Gian Missionary College.
Anyway there are so many example of Sikh in history that this can never be true. True Sikhs are not afraid of death.
I can’t understand Punjabi, no.
Here are some citations in books that contradict your claims. As a non-Sikh English speaker, this is what I had to go on:
“…some of the Sikhs of the neighborhood who had gone to Anandpur to fight for Guru Gobind Singh had deserted him in adverse conditions”
https://books.google.com/books?id=gqIbJz7vMn0C&pg=PA34&dq=mai+bhago&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lcc9VauuMITXsAWjg4D4CQ&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=mai%20bhago&f=false
“…40 Sikhs had abandoned the Guru during the siege of Anandpur…”
https://books.google.com/books?id=xajcAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA64&dq=mai+bhago&hl=en&sa=X&ei=lcc9VauuMITXsAWjg4D4CQ&ved=0CD4Q6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=mai%20bhago&f=false
“The forty Sikhs resigned from the Khalsa and signed a disclaimer saying ‘We reject you as our Guru and we renounce our allegiance to the Khalsa.'”
https://books.google.com/books?id=TJb_i97CG70C&pg=PT62&dq=mai+bhago&hl=en&sa=X&ei=fMg9VYGLBIXpsAX3vICAAw&ved=0CEsQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=mai%20bhago&f=false
Well at this point I don’t have any book reference. Sikhs did not deserted the Guru instead the people of Anandpur deserted the Guru.
Then unfortunately, we might be at a bit of an impasse. :-/ Without being able to verify what you’re saying, I don’t feel comfortable amending the entry.
Please don’t do indira Gandhi, she was the leader of the Sikh Genocide in 1984- not a princess, but a villain moreso. On a different note, you should post about Jodha, the empress of India (wife of Akbar)
I’ve read this many times, because I do love the entries on the bad-ass women, and somehow just now caught this.
“Kaur being a surname all female Khalsa take, which trasnlates to “princess.”
trasnlates
Mate they did leave, the papers they signed basically say the renounced Guru ji. Guru ji kept those papers, so later when he asked one man who was still breathing what he wished for as he had fought bravely in battle, the man asked for the very papers to be ripped up. So Guru ji took them out and ripped them up. If you don’t believe me, just know that one of my father’s teachers was the greatest Sikh historians of all time, so trust me when I say this I know my shit.
You should also do Gulab Kaur: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulab_Kaur
Your research is correct, there were 40 Sikhs who abandoned the 10th guru.
Mai Bhago did bring them back in the end, and Guru Gobind Singh forgave them by tearing apart the contract saying that they don’t mean anything to one another.
There’s a category for “Wicked Ladies”. If Wu Zetian, an emperor who may have killed her own infant daughter, can be on the list, Indira should be as well.
I agree with you on Jodhabai though!
The greater argument against her is how recent she is.