The Untold History Of Punjab’s Warrior Women: How Mai Bhago, Sada Kaur, Bibi Sahib Kaur Led Armies, Defied Empires And Shaped Power

History has never been short of brave women, but it has often been short on memory. From the Amazons of Greek mythology to Boudica's rebellion against Roman rule in Britain, the idea of women leading armies and defying empires has always captured imagination. India, too, has its own formidable lineage of warrior women. Names like Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi and Kittur Rani Chennamma have found their rightful place in textbooks and popular culture. Yet beyond these familiar icons lies a quieter, equally compelling story—that of Punjab's warrior women whose courage shaped politics, warfare, and resistance, whose legacies remain largely uncelebrated.Punjab's history, particularly between the 18th and mid-19th century, was forged in near-constant

conflict—against the Mughal authority, Afghan invasions, and later, against British expansion. This was also the time when Sikh misls rose and fell and eventually coalesced under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Through this turbulence, many women did more than advise from behind palace walls. They rode into battle, marshaled armies, negotiated treaties, and stood unflinchingly against colonial power. Far from being exceptions, Mai Bhago, Sada Kaur, Jind Kaur, and Bibi Sahib Kaur were leaders in their own right.Their contributions and sacrifices need to be remembered not in the footnotes, but as fundamental chapters in the annals of Punjab's political and military history.

Mai Bhago: A Saint-Soldier Who Sent Forty Men to the Battle by Shaming Them

Mai Bhago, also known as Mata Bhag Kaur, enjoys a unique position in Sikh history. She was born in Jhabal Kalan village in Amritsar district and was raised on the martial-spiritual ethos instilled by Guru Gobind Singh Ji when he founded the Khalsa in 1699. At a time when war was considered a male domain, Mai Bhago broke every expectation that people had of women in those times.Her moment of truth was during the siege of Anandpur Sahib in 1704–1705. As the Mughal forces, along with the hill chieftains, tightened their noose, fatigue and desperation took hold. Forty Sikh soldiers from her region deserted the Guru, choosing life over loyalty. Mai Bhago’s reaction was neither mute disappointment nor entreaties from the sidelines. She strapped on armor, mounted a horse, and rode out herself, calling out the men’s cowardice so publicly that retreat became impossible.She led these forty men against pursuing Mughal forces at the Battle of Khidrana. It was brutal. The forty Sikhs died fighting, but their resistance forced the enemy to withdraw, allowing Guru Gobind Singh to escape. Later, the Guru forgave the deserters, honoring them as Chaali Mukte—the Forty Liberated Ones—and renamed Khidrana as Muktsar, the Pool of Liberation.The grievously wounded Mai Bhago survived and went on to serve as the personal bodyguard to Guru Gobind Singh, a position attained by few men. Her arms are preserved to this day in Sikh museums, and at Punjab's Armed Forces Preparatory Institute for Girls, she attained that rarest of boons—an institutional acknowledgement of a woman who leads from the front.

Sada Kaur: The strategist behind an Empire

If Mai Bhago symbolised battlefield courage, Rani Sada Kaur of Batala represented political intelligence and military strategy at its sharpest. Leader of the powerful Kanhaiya misl, she was among the most influential figures of late 18th-century Punjab. Her personal relationship with Maharaja Ranjit Singh—she was his mother-in-law—placed her at the heart of emerging Sikh power, but it was her competence, not kinship, that defined her authority.She had become, in effect, the regent and chief advisor to Ranjit Singh after his parents had died. She provided troops, finances, and tactical guidance during his early campaigns, helping him to defeat some rival misls and consolidate power. Under her mentorship, Ranjit Singh crowned himself as the Maharaja in 1801, giving birth to the united Sikh Empire.Sada Kaur did not just plan wars; she fought them. Leading troops through campaigns in Amritsar, Kasur, Chiniot, and Kangra, she also played the most pivotal role in repelling Afghan Pathan forces in Hazara and Attock. Afghan records are said to have referred to her as "one of the greatest generals of her time"—no small praise from within a deeply patriarchal military culture.She could negotiate, command loyalty, and read the fluid politics of the region. More than anybody else, she was indispensable. Without Sada Kaur, the rise of Maharaja Ranjit Singh might have run a very different course altogether.

Jind Kaur: The Queen Who Refused to Bow to Empire

Maharani Jind Kaur, the last queen of the Sikh Empire, stands as one of the most fearsome anti-colonial figures of 19th-century India. After being widowed at quite a tender age following the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh's son, she became regent to her then-infant son, Maharaja Duleep Singh, at a time when British interference in Punjab had reached alarming levels.Jind Kaur refused to remain a mere figurehead. She rescinded purdah, addressed assemblies in open court, and took direct control over military and administrative affairs. British officers repeatedly remarked on her influence over the Khalsa army, describing her as “the Messalina of the Punjab”—a term meant to insult her but that also betrayed their fear of her authority.She played a key role in the Anglo-Sikh wars, fighting British control. Her son had been taken to England by the British as early as 1849, when Punjab was annexed. This again neutralized the effect of Jind Kaur as a rallying symbol, after which she was imprisoned and exiled from Punjab.It was thirteen years later that mother and son would be reunited. Jind Kaur lived her last years in London, far from the kingdom that she fought to protect, dying in 1863 when she was only 46 years old. Today, her story is slowly being reclaimed as one of dignity, defiance, and maternal courage in the face of empire.

Bibi Sahib Kaur: The Princess Who Defeated a British General

Princess Bibi Sahib Kaur of Patiala is one of the rare documented cases of an Indian woman defeating a British commander in battle. She was born in 1771 as the elder sister of Raja Sahib Singh of Patiala. She married early to Jaimal Singh of Fatehgarh, but her life took a dramatic turn when political events demanded she take to the realm of leadership. She was appointed Prime Minister of Patiala by her brother in 1793, a post that involved much more than administration. Soon, she was leading military expeditions to first free her captive husband and later to defend the allied territories against the Maratha and regional rivals. The most memorable campaign that she embarked upon was in the year 1799, when George Thomas, an Irish adventurer leading forces supported by the British in Hansi and Hissar, threatened the towns of Patiala. She personally led an army to lift sieges and turned Thomas to retreat. Thomas himself grudgingly admitted in his accounts that she defended Patiala better than her brother could have. Her reign melted the boundaries between royal duty and battlefield command and bruised the colonial assumptions about Indian women's capabilities.