Mai Bhago and the Forty

During the grueling Siege of Anandpur Sahib, forty Sikhs, exhausted by hunger and years of constant warfare, signed a 'Bedawa'—a formal letter of desertion—declaring that they were no longer the Guru’s followers and he was no longer their Guru. They returned to their villages, but they did not find the peace they sought. Instead, they were met with the fierce scorn of Mai Bhago, a woman of immense faith and courage. Dressed in warrior attire and wielding a massive spear, she shamed the men for abandoning Guru Gobind Singh Ji in his darkest hour. Moved by her resolve, the forty men followed her back to the battlefield at the pool of Khidrana. In a ferocious clash against the pursuing Mughal army, the Sikhs fought with legendary valor against overwhelming odds. As the battle ended, Guru Gobind Singh Ji arrived to find the wounded Mahan Singh, the last of the forty. With his final breath, Mahan Singh begged the Guru to forgive them and tear the paper of desertion. The Guru, moved by their ultimate sacrifice, tore the Bedawa and blessed them as the 'Chali Mukte'—the Forty Liberated Ones. Mai Bhago, the lone survivor, remained by the Guru's side as a devoted bodyguard.