𝐌𝐚𝐢 𝐁𝐡𝐚𝐠𝐨 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐒𝐢𝐤𝐡 𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫 - A Thread

Mai Bhago also known as Mata Bhag Kaur was a Sikh woman who led 40 Sikh soldiers against the Mughals in 1705. She killed several enemy soldiers on the battlefield and is considered to be a saint warrior by the Sikh Nation for over 300 years.

She was the daughter of Bhai Mallo Shah. She was also the grand-daughter of Bhai Piro Shah, who was the younger brother of Bhai Langah, a Dhillon Jatt Chaudhary of 84 villages, who had become a Sikh during the time of Guru Arjan, the fifth Sikh Guru.

Born at her ancestral village of Jhabal Kalan in the present-day Amritsar district of Punjab, in the Majha region, she was married to Nidhan Singh Warraich of Patti; She was a staunch Sikh by birth and upbringing.

Mughals and hilly chiefs had surrounded Anandpur and were demanding it be evacuated. They called that any Sikh who says that "he/she is not anymore a Sikh of Guru Gobind" will be left untouched.

A group of 40 Sikhs, led by Mahan Singh Brar told Guru Gobind Singh that they are not his Sikhs anymore. Guru told them that they have to write it in a document that "they are not his Sikhs anymore" and sign it.

She was distressed to hear in 1705 that some of the Sikhs of her village neighborhood, who had gone to Anandpur Sahib to fight for Guru Gobind Singh Ji, had deserted him under adverse conditions.

Hearing her taunts, these Sikhs were ashamed at their deed. She rallied the deserters persuading Guru, then traveling across the Malva region.
She set off along with them and some other Sikhs to find the Guru, who had been pursued by Mughal forces since leaving Anandpur.

They caught up with him in the area around Malva.
Mai Bhago and the men she was leading stopped near the dhab (pool) of Khidrana just as an imperial army was about to attack the Guru.

The 40 sikhs who had asked the Guru for permission to leave Anandpur, had been allowed to leave, but the Guru had asked them first to leave the Khalsa and dis-avowing him as their Guru.

Now fate gave them the chance to redeem themselves, never mind that even though they appeared as Sikhs, they were no longer Khalsa. ( But the Guru knew that they were not weak In Sikhi, they would come back, and Guru (Father), would bless them.

So despite the fact that they surely faced certain death, the forty (chali) men along with Mai Bhago, waded headlong into the Muslim forces (around 10,000 soldiers) and inflicted so much damage that the

𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒍𝒊𝒎𝒔 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒃𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒐𝒅𝒔.

Mai Bhag Kaur, was a great Sikh woman, with a Keski tied around her head, with the Khalsa Uniform, with her Kirpan fighting, she was the first women In the history of Punjab, to fight On a battlefield.

The Guru had watched the battle from a nearby hill and with deadly accuracy had rained down a flurry of arrows on the Mughal fighters during the attack. Seeing little activity among the party that had come to his aid he rode to the battlefield.

He found that group was composed of the forty men who he had asked to sign a paper dis-avowing him as their Guru, all of them had died of their wounds except one, Mahan Singh Brar, who was mortally wounded, had only the time to look up at Guru Gobind Singh as he pulled him up.

It is said that the note the men had signed slipped out of the dying Sikh's clothing and was picked up by the Guru who told Mahan Singh that all was forgiven and that all had died as martyrs as the Guru tore-up their letter of resignation.

𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎 𝑆ℎ𝑎ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑑. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑖 𝑀𝑢𝑘𝑡𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑆ℎ𝑎ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑠.

Sri Guru Gobind Singh blessed the forty men as the forty (chali) liberated ones (mukte) and that is still how the men are known today; the "Forty Liberated Ones", the 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒊 𝑴𝒖𝒌𝒕𝒆. He took into his care Mata Bhago who had also suffered injury in the battle.

After recovering she thereafter stayed on with Guru Gobind Singh Ji serving as one of his bodyguards, in warrior attire. She was one of many Sikhs who accompanied the Guru on his journey to Nanded.

After the passing of Guru Gobind Singh at Nanded in 1708, she retired down at Jinvara, 11 km from Bidar in Karnataka where immersed in meditation, she lived to attain a ripe old age.

Her hut in 𝑱𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒂𝒓𝒂 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝑮𝒖𝒓𝒖𝒅𝒘𝒂𝒓𝒂 Tap Asthan Mai Bhago. At Nanded, too, a hall within the compound of Takht Sachkhand Sri Hazur Sahib marking the site of her residence is known as Bunga Mai Bhago.

𝑩𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒊 𝑩𝒉𝒂𝒈𝒐.