Professor Puran Singh (1881-1931) is a well renowned Sikh poet and scientist. He wrote both in Punjabi and English and is often compared to poet Walt Whitman in that Singh’s work is dreamy, other-worldly, and romantic. Below is his poem about the Chali Mukte and the women in their families.
The Sikh Mothers | The Forty Sikh Martyers
Forty of the Faithful deserted Guru Gobind Singh – unwilling to
starve with him, unwilling to stay and die at Anadpur were
the Guru was besieged.
They sought shelter in their homes, but the doors were shut against
them, and a cry leapt from the Sikh mothers and from the Sikh
sisters and wives
The brave women bade them go back; there was no refuge for those
who had turned their back on the Guru.
“No Sikh mother shall own her son, nor a Sikh woman her man,
who turns his back on the Guru. There is life in death with Him,
it is nowhere else.”
And they died fighting for the Guru, – the forty martyrs.
From The Temple Tulips by Professor Puran Singh. Page 72. Punjab University, Patiala 2001
