Check out these lovely photos of Sikh women spanning 100 years from 1890 to 1980. As Sikhs, rarely have we been able to make home a place. So, many of us have made our home in our panth, our sangat, our memories, and our history; and that history is often times captured in photographs. To know who we are as a people, we look to our ancestors who carved out new lives and upheld old traditions. Kaur Life strives to share as many vintage photos of Sikh women with the community. This way, when think about Sikh history, we no longer have blank minds, but rather a rich bank of images to recall. If you have old or vintage photos of Sikh women, we would love to share them! Submit them to Hello(at)kaurlife.org. See our entire collection of vintage photos here.
Circa 1890s. Punjab. The family of Bhagat Singh Thind, the first United States solider. 1. Hira Singh Thind (Bhagat Singh Thind’s brother) 2. Basant Kaur Thind (Hira’s wife) 3. Balwant Singh Thind (Hira’s son) 4. Jagat Singh Thind (Bhagat Singh Thind’s Brother) 5. Inder Kaur (Jagat’s wife) 6. Harbhajan Singh Thind (Jagat’s son) 7. Pritam Kaur Thind (Jagat’s daughter). Source: http://www.bhagatsinghthind.com/
1955. L to R: Harbans Kaur, Gurmeet Kaur, Joginder Kaur. Courtesy of S. Sital Singh Loodu. Pind Dohlron Near Mahilpur, Distt: Hoshiarpur Punjab India. Source: https://dohlron.com/
Davinder Singh and Amarjit Kaur year after their wedding in January of 1963. Photo submitted by their daughter, Harsharan Kaur. Source: private collection.
Kanwar Singh submitted this photo to us of his nanké (maternal grandparents) and his mother (in the center) from around 1967 in Delhi. “That’s my grandmother Amrit Kaur, grandfather Harpreet Singh, and mother Gurleen Kaur. My grandfather was a hockey player and a business manager. Grandmother was a linguist high school teacher.” Source: private collection.
1972. A wedding at the Wakefield Road Gurdwara in Bradford, UK. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bradford_timeline/5225865396/in/photolist-8XMVHw
Paramjit Kaur & Jogender Singh on their wedding in 1974. Their daughter, Harpreet Kaur said, “I’ve never seen them fight or raise their voices even when they may have disagreed. [My siblings and] I were raised in a very loving, calm and fun household where we always prayed together, ate together and took long road trips on family vacations. The love, respect and understanding that my parents had for each other was a positive influence on our upbringing and has helped shape our relationships as married couples, parents and adults.” This photo was submitted by Harpreet Kaur. Source: private collection.
Paramjit Kaur and her daughter, Harpreet Kaur in the mid to late 1970s. This photo was submitted by Harpreet Kaur. Private collection. Source: private collection.
Bimal Kaur and her husband Beant Singh in 1976. Kaur was a nurse and Sikh activist in Punjab. Singh was one of the two assassins of Indira Gandhi. Source: http://khalsaforce.in/shaheed-bhai-beant-singh-31-october-1984
Amarjit Kaur with her children, Karamji Kaur, Swaranjit Kaur, Harsharan Kaur, and Ujjal Singh. Davinder Singh, Amarjit’s husband, took the photo in 1979 while on their the way to Hemkunt Sahib by bus. Photo submitted by Harsharan Kaur. Source: private collection.
In the front is Amarjeet Kaur and in the back is Ravi Kaur in Govindghat, India in the early 1970s. Photo submitted by Ravi Kaur’s daughter, Gurleen Kaur. Source: private collection.
1980. Ravi Kaur and Jasbir Singh honeymoons in Shimla. Photo submitted by their daughter, Gurleen Kaur. Source: private collection.
To those who shared their photos, thank you for giving us a peak into Sikh history through your family. We recognize that these are intimate moments and we all feel blessed to have the opportunity to see them.
The photographs on this page have been obtained from public sources or private collections with permission from the custodians of the photographs. The photos on this page from private collections cannot be used without express written permission from the photograph’s custodians. Any use, commercial or otherwise, of the “Private Collection” photos on this page is strictly prohibited; you may not copy, publish, re-post, sell, assign, sublicense, or otherwise transfer these materials without the express written permission from the photograph’s custodian.
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