Mai Bhago's Roar

During the agonizing, months-long siege of Anandpur Sahib, starvation pushed the Sikh defenders to their absolute limits. Unable to bear the hunger, forty Sikhs from the Majha region approached Guru Gobind Singh Ji and demanded to leave.

The Guru said they could leave, but only if they signed a document stating they were no longer his Sikhs, and he was no longer their Guru. Desperate, the forty men signed the paper and returned to their villages.

When they reached their homes, instead of a warm welcome, they met the furious eyes of Mai Bhago. She was appalled that they had abandoned their Guru in his time of greatest need.

'You call yourselves men?' she roared, throwing her bangles at them. 'Put these on and sit inside! Give me your weapons. I will go and defend the Guru myself!'

Deeply shamed by her courage and devotion, the forty men realized the magnitude of their betrayal. Led by Mai Bhago, dressed in battle armor and riding a horse, they immediately rode back to find the Guru.

They intercepted the pursuing Mughal army at the dry pool of Muktsar. The forty men, along with Mai Bhago, fought like lions, holding off thousands of Mughal soldiers. They fought to the last man.

When Guru Gobind Singh Ji arrived at the battlefield, he found Mai Bhago wounded but alive. He found the leader of the forty, Bhai Mahan Singh, taking his last breaths. The Guru wiped Mahan Singh's face and offered him any boon.

'True King,' Mahan Singh whispered, 'if you are pleased with us, please tear up that piece of paper.' The Guru smiled through his tears, pulled the document from his pocket, and tore it to pieces, blessing them as the *Chali Mukte*—the Forty Liberated Ones.