A state level function by the Punjab government to observe the International Women's Day was organized in Ludhiana on March 8 by its Department for Women's Welfare and Child Development at the insistance of the International Human Rights Organization (IHRO). Five women- Dr. Jiwanjot Kaur (a women's rights activist), Dr. Shiv Dev Kaur (the Mother Teresa of Punjab), Dr. Inderjit Kaur (Pingalwara- a home for the handicapped established by Bhagat Puran Singh), Dr. S. Kaur (writer) and Rajyogini Dadi Prakashmani (Brahma Kumaris) were honoured there with revered award, in the name of Mai Bhago, for their excellent contribution in their respective fields by the Punjab Government.

The purpose of giving this award in the name of Mai Bhago was to highlight the fighting spirit of the women in Sikh history. Mai Bhago bravely helped forty Sikh deserters, who had signed a disclaimer renouncing their allegiance to Guru Gobind Singh, to keep on the right path. The forty deserters, unwilling to starve with the Guru and stay and die at Anandpur where the Guru was besieged, sought shelter in their own homes. But the doors were shut upon them. A cry leapt from the Sikh mothers, sisters and wives of these men. The brave women bade them to go back; there was no refuge for those who had turned their backs on the Guru at home.

Mai Bhago admonished them all for leaving the Guru and herself led them back to the Guru. " No Sikh mother shall own her son, nor a Sikh woman her man, nor a Sikh sister her brother, who turns his back on the Guru. There is life in death with the Guru, it is no where else.” And they died fighting for the Guru in the battlefield of Muktsar, where the dead lay thickest. They are ever since remembered daily in the Sikh Ardas as the Forty Muktas (liberated souls) by Sikhs all over the world.

The Sikh Gurus advocated equal status for women with men in all spheres of life. They honoured women, as the symbol of domestic harmony and happiness, social cohesion and unity. The position of women in Indian society before the Sikh Gurus was very demeaning, derogatory and continually deteriorating. A woman was referred to as man's shoe, the root of all evil, a snare, a temptress and having her intelligence in her heels. Women were also tied down in the shackles of cruel, inhuman and callous social customs.

Guru Nanak condemned this manmade notion of the inferiority of woman and protested against her long subjugation. He asserted that men and women shared the grace of God equally and were responsible for their deeds before Him. Whereas a woman had been contemptuously called a childbearing machine, the Guru respected her for her creativity and said: " Blessed is the mother who creates life.” The sixth Guru, Guru Hargobind, respected woman by saying: " Woman is the conscience of man.” Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru, gave Amrit (Sikh initiation) to men and women alike. At the time of Amrit, a man is given the name Singh, meaning Lion, the woman is given the name Kaur, meaning Princess, to enhance the position of woman.

Mai Bhago was the lone survivor of the Battle of Muktsar. Later she joined the Guru at Nander where she acted as the Guru's bodyguard in male attire till 1708 when she moved to Jinvara, Bidar, after the demise of the Guru.

Do we not feel proud that a Sikh woman, who had gotten out of home, instrumental in raising the torment souls of 40 Muktas who later sacrificed their lives in the battle field fighting against the state tyranny of that times? Thus, Mai Bhago is a role model for all those who aspire to do something for their Dharma, humankind and people around them.

So, we call upon, this day, the people, especially the Sikh Nation, to do something for Punjab and its people. Punjab needs urgent attention on issues and matters relating to its environment, human rights, drug addiction menace, farmers' suicides, river water rights, rising crime, unwarranted prolonged detention of Sikh youth in jails and degeneration in Sikh politics. The Sikh Nation too needs more Mai Bhagos to raise a voice against the discrimination, communalism and judicial terrorism.

Mai Bhagos (not 'Mai' Jagiros) are urgently needed today to neutralize the so-called Akalis who are committed to use the spirit of Mai Bhago in forming Mai Bhago Dal to promote their crafty politics.

The author, Dalbir Singh, is Chairperson of IHRO (International Human Rights Organization), Ludhiana, Punjab, India.