Our Heroes

Jind Kaur:
Escape from Chunar Fort

A Poem by MICHELE GIBSON

 

Rani Jindan was summarily removed to exile from the Land of the Five Rivers after the British concocted a series of skirmishes they labelled the "Anglo-Sikh Wars" and used them as an excuse to annex Punjab to India and their dominions. While imprisoned in distant Chunar Fort (40 km from Benares), she escaped while disguished in the garb of her maid and fled to Nepal. Years later, she was allowed to re-unite with her son, Duleep Singh, in Calcutta. He took his ailing mother to London where he lived. She died shortly thereafter.

  

Six yards of peasant wrap and shawl

A sari crafted by a weary hand

Disguised each measure my cocoon

Secured my exile to a foreign land  

 

One measure of muslin to mask my flight

Fort Chunar could never bind me

I disappeared before their eyes

And taunted them to find me  

 

One measure of muslin to bind my sorrow

I know this place but not as home

A cautious refuge for my torment

My sentry a height of jutting stone  

 

One measure of muslin to choke regret

That heats my blood at every hour

The hands of time would tumble back

If I could ransom any power  

 

One measure of thanks and soon farewell

To Kathmandu, the Bagmati river

Before the symbol of my escape

Now, freedom I deliver  

 

One measure of muslin to yoke my heart

I hid, but as the British near Nepal

A swath of enemy blankets my path

Shielded, I charge the wall  

 

One measure of patience, I waited and now

My journey begins a'new

I must awaken all that we are

Our history sleeps in you  

 

In my distinct ghagra choli reaffirmed

With humility, truth and liberty won

Six yards of muslin I bring to Calcutta

To present to my Sikh born son

                      

                          * * * * *

 

Six yards of muslin I bring to my love

From Kathmandu to Calcutta this day

My gift to you is this modest cloth

And the counsel in what I say

 

One measure for all that came before

Let go the confusion and subterfuge

Remember the strength that underlies

Remember, then you can choose

 

One measure for honour and self-respect

'Round your precious hair unshorn

You are the Khalsa come to life

You are a Sikh reborn

 

One measure of cloth upon the last

This for responsibility

The poor, the weak, the ostracized

We defend equality

 

One measure of muslin, broadening so

Prominent, strong and revealed

Courageous, our kin we stand beside

Through seva our frailty healed

 

One measure for humility

Always a student, disciple and friend

We long for the realm of ultimate truth

We must study to comprehend

 

One measure of cloth for meditation

Scripture to quietly rest upon

Ten Gurus reveal the way to God

And we honour Them in song

 

Six yards of muslin, remember dear

All that we stand for I bring to you

In one measure the Guru Granth Sahib

In our devotion Waheguru

 

Michele Gibson is a Social Worker based in Ontario, Canada. Through her partner, she has been introduced to things Sikh. Greatly moved by the saga of Rani Jindan and her son, Duleep Singh, she turns to her other love, poetry, to express her fascination for these historical characters and events.

[May 3, 2009]

read other articles in Our Heroes