Maai Bhago also known as Mata Bhag Kaur was a Sikh female leader who fought the Mughals in 1705 with 40 Sikh warriors. She is revered as a saint warrior by the Sikh Nation for having killed multiple enemy soldiers on the battlefield. She was the only survivor of the Battle of Muktsar, also known as the Battle of Khidrana, which took place on December 29, 1705. She was Bhai Mallo Shah's daughter. She was also the granddaughter of Bhai Piro Shah, a Dhillon Jatt Chaudhary from 84 villages who had converted to Sikhism during the reign of Guru Arjan, the fifth Sikh Guru. Piro Shah was Bhai Langah's younger brother. She was one of four brothers and only sisters.
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She was married to Nidhan Singh Warraich of Patti and was a steadfast Sikh by birth and upbringing. She was born in her family hamlet of Jhabal Kalan in the Majha region of Punjab's modern-day Amritsar district. When she learned in 1705 that some of the Sikhs from her village's neighborhood had traveled to Anandpur Sahib to support Guru Gobind Singh Ji, she was upset to learn that they had abandoned him in difficult circumstances.
She found these 40 men (now referred to as the "challi mukta") who had abandoned the eleventh Guru and convinced them to do so. She was able to persuade them to apologize for fleeing Anandpur Sahib when it was being attacked and to ask the Guru's blessing before being allowed to rejoin the Sikh community.
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She headed out in search of the Guru, who had been followed by Mughal forces ever since leaving Anandpur, with them and a few other Sikhs. They located him in the vicinity of Malva. Just before an imperial army was ready to assault the Guru, Mat Bhago and the warriors she was commanding paused close to the dhab (pool) of Khidrana.
The 40 Sikhs who had begged the Guru for permission to leave Anandpur were granted their wish, but only after they had disavowed the Guru and left the Khalsa. Even though, despite appearing to be Sikhs, they were no longer Khalsa, fate had now given them the chance to atone for their transgressions. (However, the Guru was aware of their strength. When they returned, the Guru (Father) would bless them in Sikhi.
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So, despite the fact that they were almost certainly going to die, Mai Bhago and the forty (Chali) men charged head-on into the Muslim forces (which consisted of about 10,000 soldiers) and dealt such heavy losses that the Muslims were finally forced to abandon their attack and retreat as night fell to tend to their wounds in the nearby woods.
She fought on a battlefield for the first time in Punjabi history, wearing a Keski around her head, a Khalsa uniform, and a Kirpan. Mai Bhag Kaur was a wonderful Sikh woman.
The Guru had been seeing the conflict from a nearby hill and had, with deadly precision, showered down a hail of arrows on the Mughal warriors during the assault. When he noticed that the group who had come to his rescue was not doing anything, he rode over to the battleground.
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With the exception of Mahan Singh Brar, who was mortally wounded and had only enough time to look up at Guru Gobind Singh as he pulled him upright and into his lap, all of the forty men he had asked to sign a document disavowing him as their Guru had died of their wounds. The men's resignation letter is supposed to have fallen out of the dying Sikh's garment and been found by the Guru, who tore it up while telling Mahan Singh that everyone had been pardoned and had died as martyrs.
When someone dies fighting for their faith or religion, the person is called a Shaheed. The Chali Muktis were also Shaheeds.
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