The Lost Heer: Women in Colonial Punjab

As a province hailed by the British as the ‘sword arm of India’, masculinity remained a key pillar of Punjabi identity in colonial times. Observers largely looked at Punjab’s women through this blurred lens and women-centric narratives are largely missing in the available literature from colonial Punjab. Women featured as daughters of sardars, as wives of kings, mothers of statesmen and widows of emperors, their personality revolving around the men whose honour and pride they were upholding. The Lost Heer seeks to go beyond these male-centric narratives and shed light on the struggles, resilience, and contributions of women in colonial Punjab. By excavating material from archives, oral narratives and accounts of women in regional literature, this work seeks to put women at the centre of its account. From figures like Aas Kaur, Mai Fatto and Bibi Sahib Kaur in the early colonial period to latter-day figures like Manmohini Zutshi and Raghbir Kaur to completely forgotten figures like Dr. Premdevi (probably the first qualified lady doctor of Punjab) and Khadija Begum Ferozeuddin (the ‘first Punjabi lady MA’), this work enriches our knowledge of the history of Punjab by choosing to focus on a section of society who have not received their due.