News & Update

New Delhi: In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement, the Minister of Home Affairs has issued a notification that the ‘Person of Indian Origin’ (PIO) card shall be valid for a lifetime.

The notification was issued on September 30, a Home Ministry release said on Wednesday.

“In pursuance of the announcement made by the Prime Minister at Madison Square Garden in New York on September 28, 2014, the Ministry of Home Affairs has issued a Notification on September 30, 2014 to the effect that Person of Indian Origin (PIO) card shall be valid for lifetime, and the PIO Card holder shall be exempt from police reporting/registration,” the release said.

The release further clarified that that all PIO cards issued till September 30, 2014 ‘are automatically deemed to have life time validity’.

Modi announced at the Madison Square Garden, to cheers from the assembled gathering, that PIO card holders will get lifelong visas.

~ Source: http://www.indiatvnews.com/

A bright, spunky, bold, and fun woman, Bhupinder “Bhupy” Kaur, mother of three, is a trial attorney who specializes in construction law civil litigation.

What makes her stand out from other lawyers is that as an amrit-dhari Kaur, she always keeps her head covered with a chunni. Whether meeting with a client, arguing a case in court, or meeting with her kids’ teachers, she dons the chunni. Whether wearing western clothes or Punjabi clothes, she dons the chunni.

Born in England and raised in Vernon, Canada, she currently lives in LA, California.

It is so unusual to see a young Sikh woman covering her head with a chunni in the United States that Kaur Life decided to learn more about Bhupinder’s journey with Sikhi to understand what prompted her to wear the chunni at all times.

When did you start covering your head?

Bhupinder Kaur: I was 12 when I wanted to take Amrit. My parents said I was too young, but they agreed. So, we went to Vancouver for the Sanchar and I took Amrit there. I thought, “Hey, now that I’m amrti-dhari, I should cover my head.” I started doing so with a ramal.

I never questioned it. I just thought, “That’s how it was supposed to be.” Growing up, my mother covered her head with a chunni.

How did you integrate that into your high school life?

Bhupinder Kaur: I started with a plain blue ramal and a plain black one. Then, I started wearing bandanas but I wanted more colors. By 12th grade my mom had dyed me 200 different colors so I could match them to my outfits!

At the time, I was really into watching WWF wrestling, so I would use puffy paint to design my ramals to support my favorite wrestler. It was fun!

Did your family influence your decision to cover your head?

Bhupinder Kaur: My mom covered her head all the time with a chunni. But she never pressured me to cover my head. I remember when we would go to parties and sometimes I’d wear a lengha and she would say, “You don’t have to wear a chunni at the party. You don’t have to wear it if you don’t feel like it.” But I wanted to and she would have special chunnis made for me.

The only time we had to cover our heads in our family was when we were cooking, eating, or in the baba ji’s room.

I never associated my dad or my brothers wearing a dastar to me wearing a ramal.

Did you ever consider wearing a dastar?

Bhupinder Kaur: I did. I was at a kirtan program once, at the age of 14, and someone said I couldn’t do kirtan because I didn’t wear a dastar. It was that comment that made me not want to wear one. I thought, “I can do kirtan. I can still be a Sikh even if I don’t wear a dastar!” It was a rebellious thing. I’ve never thought about it after that.

When did you switch from a ramal to a chuni?

Bhupinder Kaur: Even in law school I wore a ramal but I started to dislike the look. I felt like it looked to “kiddish” and not very formal. Wearing a bandana to a law internship wasn’t very professional and I didn’t want to wear plain ramals. Plus, I wanted a greater range of colors and prints so, I switched to a chunni.

I still wear a bandana sometimes while playing sports.

What have other Sikhs’ reaction been to you always wearing a chuni?

Bhupinder Kaur: In Vancouver, no one questioned why I wore it. They knew I was amrit dhari.

In Punjab, they didn’t get it. They knew why I wore it but they don’t understand why I would choose to. “Do you believe in a sant?” some people would ask me.

In the US, Sikhs come up to me and ask me, “Why are you covering your head? Why are you wearing a chunni?” This surprised me at first, the fact that Sikhs were asking me. I had to explain, Sikhs need to keep their kesh clean, boys do it, it’s an identity thing. Spiritually, it makes me feel closer to my guru. It’s like a uniform. When I cross the line into the Guru’s Darbar, I don’t have to think twice about covering my head, because it is always covered.

I don’t get it when a Sikh tells me, “There’s no need to cover your head.” That’s rude. It’s not their decision and it’s violating my personal space. I respond to that by saying, “There’s no need for me to wear this shirt either, but I choose to.” I don’t know why it would bug them. It’s a personal choice. I’m not telling them they should all wear chunnis. The chunni is a part of me.

How did non-Sikhs react to your chunni?

Bhupinder Kaur: In Vancouver, everyone knew I was a Sikh. Canada’s multicultural education is awesome. In Vancouver, Non-Sikhs knew that I covered my head and didn’t cut my hair because I was amrti-dhari. Very few people asked me questions because there were so many Punjabis around. Once in a while people would ask me, “That’s a cool print. Is it for fashion or something else?”

In the US, I am constantly mistaken for a Muslim. When I first got here I thought, “What the hell?!”

Even Muslims think I’m Muslim! they greet me with “As-Salâm Alaikum.” I reply, “Wa-laikum as-Salâm but, I’m not a Muslim, I’m a Sikh.” Then they ask, “Oh. So, why do you cover your head?”

Only once did a Muslim know I was a Sikh and that’s because he was from Pakistan and saw my kara.

When other ethnicities say, “I like your scarf.” I say, “Thanks. I cover my head because I’m a Sikh.”

Did covering your head connect you to Sikhi or the Guru?

Bhupinder Kaur: As I got older, it did help me connect to the Guru and my Sikhi. When you realize you are different and you embrace that difference, it makes you a stronger person; you don’t end up changing your believes and morals based on your community. People have to accept you for who you are. You assert, “This is who I am, you need to accept me. I accept you and we can live together.”

It’s not about fitting in; it’s about accepting each other and doing stuff together.

Covering my head instilled confidence in me. I felt, “I can do anything.”

The chunni became my identity. My style. I became known for it and recognized by it. As my husband Amarpreet says, I can’t get lost in a crowd, he can spot me anywhere because he just looks for my chunni!

~ Bhupinder Kaur
~ Source: http://www.kaurlife.org/

A look at the broken slabs inscribed with words of valour of Sikh generals at the first Anglo-Sikh war memorial in Gora Hoor village near Aliwal, 40 km from Ludhiana, are a reflection of the hollow promises and salutations made by the political leaders of the state.

The irony of the situation is on the one hand, the state government has failed to protect the old memorial, on the other hand, it is all set to construct ‘Jang-e-Azaadi’, a memorial at Kartarpur near Jalandhar over 25 acres at a cost of Rs. 200 crore.

Despite being declared a protected monument in 1964 under the Punjab Ancient, Historical Monuments, Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, the memorial has been in ruins all these years.

Irrespective of the fact that the memorial referred to as “Flame of Memory” is a symbol of gallantry of Sikh soldiers duly acknowledged by the British by installation of this commemorative plaque, the monument was denied due recognition by the governments and people of the state.

It was built in 1853 by the British, more than 160 years ago, to honour the bravery of the Sikh soldiers who changed the face of first Anglo-Sikh war. The British were forced to acknowledge the valour with which the Sikh soldiers fought against the much stronger British army.

In 2011, the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board had made efforts to renovate the monument and an amount of `10 lakh was sanctioned for it. But soon after putting up of a boundary wall made of grills the work stopped as the contractor failed to get requisite funds.

Criticising the SAD-BJP government for having ignored the “prestigious” project of renovating the first Anglo-Sikh War Memorial, Ex-servicemen Welfare Society, Ludhiana, president Col Rajinder Singh Sohi (retd) said, “It is a matter of shame that our governments have forgotten about the sacrifices made by our soldiers. The land that belonged to this monument too has been usurped by farmers and the administration has not even bothered to look into the matter.”

Another Octogenarian from Hambran Harjinder Singh said, “It is rather shocking that none of the Akali leaders who take pride in referring to the war heroes from Punjab outside the state have ever bothered to pay homage to the martyrs of First Anglo Sikh War at this memorial.”

Expressing ignorance, Principal secretary Raji P Srivastava said, “I will look into the matter and the department will do the needful.”

~ Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/

Amritsar, Punjab: Realizing that excellence and activism is need of the hour, the young activist’s boys and girls gathered at a call of Sikh Youth of Punjab (SYP) today resolved that they would address the issues of drug menace, disrespect to women and yellow literature with persuasion, education and arming residents of Punjab with the knowledge.

They declared not to allow Punjab to be consumed by drugs and asserted that personal responsibility was a pre-requisite to tackle this bull by the horn.

As a united voice with actionable agenda we, the tomorrow of Punjab, will bring change in the little world we live in, reads the resolution adopted during the youth conference organized by SYP on the outskirts of Guru Nanak Dev University.

The speakers mainly SGPC members Bibi Kiranjot Kaur, Prof Jagmohan Singh and Prof Inderjit Singh Gogoani felt that the society was facing attack from the dirty nexus of politicians-police-smugglers who work under cloak of various socio-cultural fronts. They pointed out that Punjab was under attack from these drug lords who are being facilitated by political leaders across the spectrum.

The speakers urged the youth to do activism by declaring and proclaiming that they would not tolerate degradation of women and that they would bail Punjab out of sinking hole.

Banners were displayed prompting the youth to work for a New Punjab, a drug free state and make the next generation proud of Punjab.

SYP head Nobeljit Singh from Hoshiarpur said we have no doubt that the strong value system of Punjab, respect for women, standing up for the underdog (oppressed) and refraining from intoxicants will withstand the test of our time.

Delivering the key note, party’s vice head Paramjit Singh Tanda observed that confronting any socio-political issue that was being patronized by the established conservative class was never an easy task. What we need today is not standing observation or nodding of heads to address the issue but a commitment with ourselves that yes we can and will change the current system that is flawed.

Organization’s secretary Sukhvider Singh from Anandpur Sahib said drugs do not discriminate among Punjabi’s. The cancerous epidemic affects all alike, he said and added that modernity at the expense of vulgarity, diluting our values is never welcome and will be rejected by the entrepreneurial spirit of the Punjab.

Kiranjot Kaur said women consist almost half the human population and have to be included in leadership positions for promoting better understanding in the society. She further said a woman was the core of a family which is smallest unit of society, therefore her contribution was immense in inculcating moral values and spirit in the young.

Well known human rights activist Prof Jagmohan Singh in his address said Punjab today was going through difficult times. Drug abuse was a serious concern. Lack of interest in education has taken gigantic proportions. A neo-sub-culture a la Bollywood is being foisted on us through the mega-rich Pollywood producers who are not Punjabi, the degrading treatment to women in all walks of life puts a question mark on Punjabi character, the lethargy and lack of foresight of the governmental authorities was leading us nowhere.

He said from streets to the corridors of power, from canteens to the drawing rooms, this country runs on two hypothes –“chalta hai “ and “mainu ki” There is filth on the streets –chalta hai, there is goondaism in the colony –mainu ki, the government is not fulfilling its promises –so what can I do, girl students are being teased outside colleges and universities –it is their problem, not mine, the neighbour’s son has become a drug addict –too bad but that family is responsible. These are our standard responses. Everyone’s problems are nobody’s problems.

~ By Paramjeet Singh
~ Source: http://sikhsiyasat.net/

Srinagar: Hundreds of flood-victims in Jammu and Kashmir who found shelter at various gurdwaras across the the state are grateful to the Sikh community for their contribution in the rescue efforts.

Abdul Rasheed has been staying in Gurudwara Shaheed Bunga for past 17 days ever since he along with his family was rescued from his marooned house in Jawahar Nagar here.

“Floodwater did not spare any community, everybody was equally affected, but we are thankful to the members of the Sikh community” he said.

Expressing gratitude towards the Sikh community, the flood victims, of whom a majority were Muslims, said they would remain indebted to the community as they helped them without discriminating on the basis of religion.

“I had never been to Gurudwara before and I am overwhelmed to see the love and care these people gave us. Without being bothered about our religion, they allowed us to live inside the main hall of the gurudwara,” Maqsood Ahmed, a resident of Bemina locality, said.

Besides setting up relief camps at gurdwaras, several members of Sikh community also volunteered in rescue efforts.

“A sardarji used his turban to pull my drowning family out. We owe our life to him, he even used the turban cloth to stop the bleeding of my daughter’s wounds,” Shabeer Ahmed another resident of Jawahar Nagar, said.

Various Sikh organisations from across the country and the globe too have extended help for the relief and rehabilitation of the flood affected residents.

“UK-based Khalsa Aid and US-based United Sikhs were among the first few charitable organisations which rushed their men and equipment to carry out the relief work in the Valley,” a government official said.

Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DGMC) and the Amritsar-based Shri Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) have set up 24-hour free Langer (community kitchens) at various places across the Srinagar city.

“Besides establishing Langers at several places in Srinagar, we have been providing packed food for more than 70,000 people daily,” DGMC member P S Chandok said.

Source: http://zeenews.india.com/

Feel enlightened by learning the Power behind each Daily Bani you recite in Nitnem…

Japji Sahib

This bani controls one’s “ji,” one’s soul. When your Ji, your being, is endangered, when the radiance of your soul is weak, recite Japji Sahib.

Guru Nanak Ji said that the thirty-eight pauris of Japji would liberate the humanity from the cycles of birth and death.

Jaap Sahib

The naad of Jaap Sahib rouses the soul and the self of the Being.

“Sahib” also means grace. Recite it when your position is endangered, or when your authoritative personality is weak. This bani brings grace and greatness. It will also give you the ability that, whatever people say, you will automatically be able to compute what they are actually saying. Once you are able to recite it correctly, it will give you the power, the siddhi, that whatever you say must happen. Man can direct God, and God can direct man Guru Gobind Singh Ji recited Jaap Sahib so we won’t become beggars at the doors of others.

TavPrasad Sawayie

This baani was spoken by Guru Gobind Singh ji. When you are not getting any satisfaction out of life, this is the bani to recite.

Chaupai Sahib

Chaupai Sahib is the short name for the Sikh prayer or Gurbani whose full name is Kabiobach Bainti Chaupai.

The Bani comes after the section called Charitropakhyan. Many “charitars” (tricks; deceptions) of the world are shown in Charitropakhyan. Charitars highlight negative energies that can be found on earth.

After composing Charitars, the tenth master composed the section that includes this particular bani. It is an Ardas or ‘request’ or ‘sincere plea’ to God for protection.

This Bani gives one the feeling of reliability and dependability on the Lord. If one has negative feelings and a lack of confidence in the future, one should recite this Bani to get an instant boost.

Anand Sahib

Whoever recites the forty pauris of Anand Sahib will have endless bliss, because the Guru is limitless. In this bani, mind and body are explained in relation to cosmic divinity. Guru Amar Das ji gave us the song of bliss, which is Anand Sahib, to qualify the mind and to understand the depth.For husband and wife to get together, recite it together,alternating sutras (lines).

Rehras Sahib

This Bani is recited after one has worked and is tired. It adds energy (raa-hu) to one’s being, to one’s total concept. Also, recite it when your principle worldly wealth is endangered. In naad, reh means live, and raas means commodity, so Rehras means living commodity. Rehras Sahib helps you when you are physically weak, or weak in money, property and earthly goods.

Shabad Hazare

This is the highest love letter by a disciple, written by Guru Arjan Dev Ji to Guru Ram Dass Ji. Its gift is that it gives the benefits of a thousand shabads, and one’s soul will merge directly with God. It makes the separated ones come home with grace. One who recites this shabad will never be separated from their beloved.

Kirtan Sohila

This bani is done before sleep at night. It is the most harmonious Naad ever uttered. It multiplies the aura to the sensitivity of protection That it eliminates any negativity for miles and miles.

When you are endangered by any species of direct or indirect source, and when you want to protect yourself with the surrounding of the entire magnetic field of the earth, recite Kirtan Sohila.

Since the past 10 years, Sajjan Singh, an engineer in Hyderabad, has been chasing the stories of his people, the Deccani Sikhs, and seen them disappear like rabbits down a hole — old reports commissioned by central or state minority commissions would cancel their own oral histories or only highlight part of it; new leads would pop up with the excavation of an ancient sword or a flintlock gun and be left hanging; a period-book would turn up at the Salarjung Museum in a script that he would have to learn to translate. And he would try to work out, as all minorities do, how best the history and culture of his community not only be more widely known and spoken about by the community itself, but that it should ‘appear’ in the official history of Telangana at a time when the state is charting its own.

In the 100 days following the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the Telangana government has been trying to redraw its priorities. A section of the population has interpreted the recently-conducted survey as one demanding proof of nativity. The small but rooted 50,000-strong Deccani Sikh community has no such qualms. They say they are “natives”, people who arrived in Hyderabad in 1832 as part of a gentleman’s agreement between two kings. “This is our home and Telangana has always treated us as its own,” says Iqbal Singh, who runs a transport business, referring to their 200-old history of habitation at Barambala, the 600-acre area where the first Sikh regiment camped as it marched into Hyderabad from Lahore on Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s orders to help the fourth Nizam on the appeal of his Punjabi Khatri prime minister, Chandu Lal.

Around 90% of Deccani Sikhs are descendants of that army. On Barambala, stands a school run by the Sikh Education Society, and a gurudwara, one of the first constructed in the Deccan. A rare lithographic Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs, of Lahore lineage is kept here. Sajjan Singh’s interest in his own history, he says, began with this book as he helped in its binding and learnt to conserve it with the advice of Salarjung Museum experts.

What Deccani Sikhs now face is a peculiar situation. They are sandwiched between two identities: a) their Deccani culture with historical links to the house of the Nizam, not a popular figure with India’s political elite due to his pro-Pakistan stand at the time of independence and hence under no obligation to honour his last orders; b) and the pressure of being Sikhs outside Punjab. Being a minority among minorities, they are also on no party’s agenda. Muslims constitute 18% of the minority population of Hyderabad, Christians are 7-9% while the Sikhs are just 1%. The dominant Muslim minority gets the cream of reservations. On the other hand, the propagation of the Sikhs’ social culture, leave alone religious culture, find, if at all, intermittent political support.

In 2010, the Sikligar Sikh community (the ironsmiths) was included in the Backward Class (A) category; 285 houses were built for them, but they got no government job or financial assistance. The encroachment by the Wakf Board of the 200-acre Barambala land (gifted by the Nizam, now a busy Hyderabad suburb) has meant the control of the community has dwindled to a mere 65 acres. They further allege that no government has tried reclaiming it on their behalf. Sardar Ravinder Singh, the Karimnagar mayor, a Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) man, is their sole ‘political force’. It’s a political appointment, they wish him well, but Deccani Sikhs expect nothing out of it.

There may also be a token Superintendent of Police here and an IAS there among the Deccani Sikhs, but most members of the community are self-employed. They run small-time businesses or are drivers working their own vehicles, or, are security guards at factories, reports a study by sociologist Birinder Pal Singh of the Punjab University, Patiala. Deccani Sikhs are, thus unsurprisingly again, a mass of knotted longing and frustrations. In 2014, Telangana almost reminds them of the state of limbo that followed the annexation of the pricely state of Hyderabad into the union of India in 1948.

“We came flying 14 holy flags, we were a 14,000-strong army, we were led by Risaldars,” recites Baby Singh, a Class VII student at the Guru Nanak School, Barambala, at high pitch, as if she had just seen them charge past her school window. The Sikhs aided in tax collection, spread the Nizam’s rule in his dominions and were, by all accounts, a good bouncers-cum-peacekeeping force. “Unlike the British, the Sikhs didn’t come for war, or as refugees, we were invited,” says Yuvraj Singh, a young mechanical engineering student on the lookout for a job. “We came on horseback, we stayed on horseback.” This 19th-century adventure story went kaput in its post-colonial encounter — by 1950, the Nizam had entered the Governor’s house; his Sardars were getting out of their two-starred lapelled tunics and breeches into civvies, ready to leave the cantonment.

Mixed feelings

All the talk of missed opportunities since 1950s also reflect to the Deccani Sikhs’ other anxiety which many of them put in the language of demand. They are proud of being Deccani, but they also want an acknowledgement of their ‘cultural loss’ and a separation from latter-day Sikh migrants, the Punjabi Sikhs who settled in Telangana post-partition, or came here to escape the 1980s riots after Indira Gandhi’s assassination.

Sarjit Singh, a retired bank employee, the Sikh representative in the state minority commission (erstwhile Andhra Pradesh called it the Minority Finance Corporation), for example, says he is now an office-bearer without an office and a salary. “100 days of the TRS government are over but the status of the body is ambiguous”, he says. “A `1,000-crore/ year fund is allotted for minorities but the breakup per community is unclear. I spent `1 lakh out of my own pocket to go on tours, visit gurudwaras in disturbed areas… Who will give us compensation? We came here from Lahore and lost our culture, our practice of spoken (Punjabi) language.”

Deccani Sikh households speak a mix of Hindu-Urdu are fluent in Telegu; Sajjan Singh’s wife, a bank official, even got a chance to be a Telegu news reader on TV. The women wear bindis and saris, though the preference for salwar kameez has begun to catch on. The higher economic profile of the Punjabi Sikhs has triggered at the same time, a protectiveness towards their own regional identity but also a watchfulfulness towards their upwardly mobile brethren from Punjab who are equally isolationist in their attitude. Pal’s study reveals that Hyderabad’s Punjabi Sikhs maintain a “hardbound glossy directory with complete contact details of their businesses” excluding the details about Deccani Sikhs and their businesses.

A group of young Deccani Sikhs list the following differences in all seriousness and state why these are reasons enough against intra-marriage: “We follow a line, we are hardcore Sikhs. In Punjab, if they feel like dancing, they dance, they drink”; “We never allow Sikhs with trimmed beards inside the gurudwara;” “We may read the Guru Granth Sahib in Hindi and they might know Gurumukhi but we are more attached to the Sikh tenets”; “Our food can’t do without imli; they make khatti dal in amchoor…” Their relationship with Punjab and mainstream Punjabi culture is, thus, complicated. They watch Punjabi films and TV serials, but have no family there nor any special desire to relocate there. (Only two students in a class in the Guru Nanak School said they have visited Punjab). They acknowledge the importance of the Golden Temple but want to stay away from Shirmonani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) politics. “The SGPC tries to capture gurudwaras of Maharashtra and Hyderabad,” says a Deccani Sikh on the condition of anonymity. “They have a `800 crore-annual budget. But no funds for scholarship or grants for schools come our way.”

“We want reservation, we want Baisakhi declared a state holiday,” says Kunal Singh, a bank employee. “Deccani Sikhs are cremated at Hindu cremation grounds. We want our own graveyard,” he adds when another young Sikh shuts him up with a cackle referring to a member of their community. “That Darshan Singh Rajan, ever since he got a vehicle fitted with Gurbani cassettes to take people to the funeral ghat, two people have been dying every week!” No population to speak of and how we go on about having our own crematorium…”

~ Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/

Canada News: Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s last surviving sister passes away on his birthday in Canada.

Bibi Prakash Kaur, the last surviving real sister of Shaheed Bhagat Singh passed away in Canada on Sunday. She was 94. Coincidently, she passed away on the birth anniversary of the martyr, which falls on September 28.

Professor Chaman Lal, a former professor of JNU Delhi and an author of several books on the martyr confirmed the news.

She was living with her son Rupinder Singh in Toronto. Interestingly, a few hours before she died, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) activists in Canada visited her to greet her on Bhagat Singh’s birth anniversary though she was not in a condition to respond.

She was bed ridden for 6-7 years. “Bibi Prakash Kaur was the last real sister of Bhagat Singh. Her husband Harbans Singh expired more than a decade ago. Her daughter’s brother-in-law was killed by Punjab police in an encounter and that had become a big issue in Punjab,” said Dr Lal.

Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s siblings included Jagat Singh, Bhagat Singh, Amar Kaur, Kulbir Singh, Shakuntla Devi, Kultar Singh, Prakash Kaur, Ranbir Singh and Rajinder Singh. Jagat Singh died very young, while others lived longer, apart from Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom at 23. Prior to Bibi Prakash Kaur, Kultar Singh died in 2004, at the age of 86 years.

Kultar Singh had remained MLA and minister in ND Tiwari led UP government. Kulbir Singh remained a Jan Sangh MLA from Punjab in the early 1960s.

Dr Lal also visited Bibi Prakash Kaur along with her other relatives living in Toronto in January 2012; she was known as Sumitra in family.

Nephews and nieces of Bhagat Singh, Virender Sandhu, Kiranjit Singh Sandhu, Inderjit Dhillon and Abhey Sandhu also condoled the passing away of Bibi Prakash Kaur.

~ Source: Sikh Channel

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 sole survivor of the battle of Khidrana, i.e. Battle of Muktsar (fought on 29 December 1705); was a daughter of Bhai Mallo Shah, granddaughter of Bhai Pero Shah, 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. She was the only sister of four brothers.

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

Finding these 40 men (now called the “challi mukta”) who had deserted the tenth Guru she persuaded them to find the Guru. She managed to convince them to apologize for leaving Anandpur sahib while it had been under attack; further she them to seek the Guru’s permission to be reinstated as Sikhs.

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. Mat 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.

Fight to the death

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 women, with a Keski tied around her head, with the Khalsa Uniform, with her Kirpan fighting, she was the fist 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 upright with his arms pulling him into his lap. 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.

The Forty Liberated Ones

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.

~ Source: Sikhiwiki.org