Bibi Sharan Kaur II

Of the lot many untold tales of the bravery of women of this great country, there is a story of this shy girl who transformed into a dare devil spy for her land.

The tale I am narrating here is that of Bibi Sharan Kaur. Sikh history has two heroines with the name Bibi Sharan Kaur, but this Sharan Kaur lived later during the time of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and so am referring to her as Bibi Sharan Kaur II.

The exact dates of Sharan Kaur’s birth and death are not available but going by the period of Maharaja Ranjit Singh she can be placed certainly after 1801 CE.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780 – 1839 CE) was the founder and first Maharaja (crowned in 1801 CE) of the Sikh empire. Earlier there were small chieftains in Punjab who were ruling over areas called ‘Misls’ and they kept sparring with each other. The Afghans and Pathans took advantage of that and used to invade north-west Punjab very often. Ranjit Singh, through war and marriage alliances consolidated all the Misls into  the Sikh Empire he created and became the Maharaja of the same. Maharaja Ranjit Singh was chiefly responsible for resisting and stopping the frequent attacks by the Afghans and Pathans.

Coming to the story, Sharan Kaur was born as Sharni in a Hindu family in the north-west Punjab. Her father was a shopkeeper. Since the area where she was born and brought up had lot of Afghans and Pathans, she could speak Pashto (the language of Afghans and Pathans) fluently.

When Sharni became of marriageable age, her parents found a suitable boy named Jagat Ram from a nearby village. After the marriage, Sharni left with her husband’s family to his village. In those days, the bride used to be carried in a palanquin while the men walked.

The party had to cross a densely wooded area on their way. They were carrying lot of cash and valuables given as gifts by Sharni’s family. All of a sudden a group of bandits swooped on them and threatened them to part with all the gifts. The bandits carried weapons and the marriage party, being totally  unarmed had to give up everything. They pleaded with the bandits to let them go since they had nothing left with them.

When the bandits saw the beautiful Sharni, they pulled her out of the palanquin. Threatening to kill if anyone protested, they started dragging her to their chief. Sharni cried aloud for help and tried hard to get off but the bandits being armed and more in number, overpowered her and took her to their chief. The chief looked at her from top to bottom. “Wah! Such a beauty! Detain her for some time. I will make her mine hahahaha…” he said, with a sinister laugh.

Jagat Ram was in a dilemma. He was unable to attack the bandits as he had no weapons. At the same time he had to protect his newly wedded wife. He decided to get help at the earliest. He started running and reached Jamrud (now in Pakistan) where Hari Singh Nalwa  (1791 – 1837 CE) was the Governor and was building a fort.

Hari Singh Nalwa was one of the most trusted lieutenants of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. He was a terrific warrior who had the distinction of killing a tiger single-handedly when he was in his teens. He had fought alongside Maharaja Ranjit Singh in many wars and was equally responsible to have stopped the  invasions of Afghans and Pathans into Punjab. He was such a terror that Afghan parents  used his name to silence their children when they threw tantrums!

Jagat Ram met Hari Singh and narrated the happenings to him. Hari Singh’s hawk eyes  caught two suspicious characters near the doorway eavesdropping  on their conversation. Pointing to Jagat Ram, Hari Singh thundered to his assistant “Put this Jagat Ram in the prison. He is not even capable of protecting his wife and such persons do not deserve any sympathy. In fact he is a shame to mankind!”. The assistant promptly handcuffed the visibly shocked Jagat Ram and dragged him away. Immediately, the suspicious characters slinked away. Hari Singh then called for Jagat Ram and sent him along with some armed Sikh soldiers on horses to rescue his wife.

As Hari Singh had precisely judged, the suspicious characters were indeed the men of the bandit gang. The soldiers and Jagat Ram found them narrating what they saw to their chief. They were mocking at ‘Jagat Ram’s plight’ not knowing that Hari Singh had enacted a nice drama!  The soldiers and Jagat Ram attacked the bandits who were taken unawares. They rescued Sharni and recovered all her valuable wedding gifts. Jagat Ram and Sharni then went to thank  Hari Singh. Hari Singh while blessing them to go to their home, asked Sharni her name.

“My name is Sharni but I do not wish to be called by that name Sire!” said she. “I have been given asylum at your feet (Sharan) and so I wish to be called Sharan Kaur from now on. My husband and I want to embrace Sikhism and live like warriors here itself, helping others”. Jagat Ram nodded in agreement. So Sharni became Bibi Sharan Kaur and Jagat Ram became Jagat Singh. Sharan Kaur looked after the community kitchen while Jagat Singh was enrolled as a soldier in Hari Singh’s army.

Hari Singh  observed Sharan Kaur’s way of working for a few months and decided that she was extremely intelligent and brave fit to be a spy in his army. Sharan was very happy. A senior officer was assigned to train her in a structured manner. Soon enough Sharan learnt the nuances of the job.

On one occasion, Hari Singh got news that the Pathans were preparing to attack Jamrud shortly. He sent Sharan Kaur to find out the strength of the Pathan army. Sharan dressed up as a Pathan girl went to their camp. She told the guarding soldiers in Pashto that she had come to seek the chief’s help as the ‘Sikhs at Jamrud had killed her brother’. Thinking her to be a Pathan, they sent her in. Wanting to talk to the chief alone, Sharan maintained the same story with the chief and wanted him to attack the Sikhs in revenge for her brother. “But”, she added “Sikhs have a great army”. She further said she doubted the size of the Pathan army. The foolish Pathan chief believing her story told her all about his army. At the end of the conversation, she pretended to faint and fall. When the chief caught her to lift her up, Sharan took out a handkerchief and pressed it on his nose and he fell unconscious. Taking advantage of the fact that they were alone, she took a dagger which she had carried and stabbed him to death.

Coming out of the chamber as if nothing had happened, she quickly went back to Jamrud and by the time the Pathan soldiers found out what had happened, she had already reached Jamrud. She was honoured by Hari Singh for this daring task.

The Pathans were always looking to rebel against the Sikhs at Jamrud but were extremely scared of Hari Singh. Once Hari Singh was seriously ill and the news somehow reached the Pathans. They immediately surrounded the fort at Jamrud. To scare them off, Hari Singh, despite his illness, dressed up in his military attire and went to the highest parapet atop a bastion of the fort and looked outside. Seeing him, the Pathans fled. But one of them aimed and took shot injuring Hari Singh badly. This was on April 29, 1837 CE. Hari Singh died the next day. Suddenly there was nobody to lead the Sikhs at Jamrud. There was confusion and panic in the ranks.

Sharan Kaur rose to the occasion. She addressed the assembled ranks. “Do not be disheartened. We should plan what to do next. Do not leak the news of the death of our chief” she said. “ This is not the time to be weak and depressed”. The next thing she said and did was the most daring. “Lower me down with a rope from the other side of the fort. I will go to Peshawar in the disguise of a Pathan woman and somehow reach Lahore and inform the Maharaja of the happenings here”.

The soldiers and other generals obeyed her and lowered her with the rope from the fort. Disguised as a Pathan woman, she went walking and running at the fastest pace she could and reached Peshawar. From there she took some horsemen and went to Lahore to Maharaja Ranjit Singh.

The Maharaja was deeply saddened by the news of the death of his very trusted and able lieutenant who had worked hard with him to strengthen the Sikh Empire and keep the invaders at bay. However, there was no time to waste and he realized his presence was immediately required at Jamrud. He, along with Sharan Kaur and a huge army came to Jamrud in a very short time, much to the shock of the rebels. Maharaja Ranjit Singh restored order and appointed the successor.

Bibi Sharan Kaur and her husband Jagat Singh went back with the Maharaja at his request to Lahore and lived with great honour and esteem in his court.

What a journey of transformation – From Sharni, the young helpless bride to Bibi Sharan Kaur, the daredevil spy!

There is another story of one of our freedom fighters, a girl who excelled in espionage which I have narrated earlier and you can read here.

Note 1: The sources for this story are from the information on public domain, more particularly from the book “Noble and Brave Sikh Women” by Shri Sawan Singh.

Note 2: The picture depicted has been generated by me using AI.