Mai Bhago grew up in a devout Sikh household where the Sikh tradition of valor was imparted early. As a young girl, she most likely heard about her family’s relationship with the Gurus, along with the martyrdom of Guru Arjan Sahib Ji, the wars of Guru Hargobind Sahib Ji, and Mughal injustices.
Balwinder Kaur, aAt 21 years old, helped her team place fourth which, until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, was the best the Indian Women’s Field Hockey team had ever done.
What are your favorite things about being Sikh? We posed this question to the Kaur Life community and y’all came up with some great “favorites”!
Kaur Life and SikhNet decided to team up and interview families and parents to learn tools, tricks and advice, from real life experiences, to help everyone get the maximum familial benefit.
While their numbers might be smaller when compared to the Sikh men protesting, Sikh women are seen at the forefront in many cases. “Women are involved in unprecedented numbers in this campaign,” writes Ravinder Randhawa. “They form a significant proportion of the convoys heading towards Delhi.” One farmer Randhawa interviewed, Harinder Bindu, is herself a full time farmer for over 30 years, who is leading a monumental march of [hundreds if not thousands] of women.
I’ve recently been thinking about Bibi Agya Kaur. In the early 1900s, she promoted women’s education among Sikhs in Punjab. She was a school fundraiser, kirtanee, and teacher. But then, she succumbed to the Spanish Flu pandemic. She died in 1918.
In this series of “Sangat Harassment” we interviewed several Sikh women activist to learn about how the panth responds to their leadership.
"The fascinating truth about Guru Nanak’s life is that he and all the Sikh Gurus did everything they could to dismantle the dominance hierarchy."
While some keyboard warriors are intentional in their behavior, others might be harassing Kaurs without even being aware of it or the consequences.
At this point in time, Sikhi does not have a collective, communal idea of what a Kaur looks like or what her physical identity should portray. This begs the question: Are Kaurs, as a collective, suffering from a physical identity crisis?