When the story about India's freedom struggle is told, names like Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad immediately come to mind. But behind many of the famous revolutionaries were lesser-known men and women who took enormous risks for India's independence.
One such figure was Durgawati Devi, also known as Durga Bhabhi. Her story is particularly interesting, not only because she helped Bhagat Singh escape from Lahore, but she was a revolutionary herself who was involved in the underground resistance to British rule.
The woman who helped Bhagat Singh escape
In December 1928, after British police officer John Saunders was killed in Lahore, the colonial authorities launched a large search for Bhagat Singh and his associates.
Bhagat Singh needed to leave Lahore without being recognised. That was where Durga Bhabhi was important. She agreed to travel with Bhagat Singh and pretend to be his wife. Her young son accompanied them, while revolutionary Shivaram Rajguru travelled separately, pretending to be their servant.
Bhagat Singh had changed his appearance by cutting his hair and shaving his beard. The unusual family-like appearance helped them pass through the railway station and escape Lahore. The plan succeeded.
And yet for Durga Bhabhi this was not just a matter of personal courage. It was at the heart of a much bigger commitment to the revolutionary movement.
She Was More Than Bhagat Singh's Escape Companion
Durga Bhabhi is mainly remembered as the woman who helped Bhagat Singh escape. But that is a very short description.
She belonged to revolutionary circles and the Naujawan Bharat Sabha and supported the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. The Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav archive of the government of India shows her to have been an active participant in the freedom struggle.
She sold her jewellery to provide financial support to revolutionaries.Her involvement showed that women weren’t just supporters working behind the scenes. Some were directly involved in the dangerous underground activities of the revolutionary movement.
The Lesser-known Armed Action in Bombay
Maybe the most striking chapter of Durga Bhabhi's story came in 1930 in Bombay.Following the execution sentences for Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, revolutionary groups continued to resist British rule.
Durga Bhabhi was involved in an armed action on Lamington Road in Bombay. Historical research states that she and revolutionary Prithvi Singh fired at a British police sergeant and his wife.
What makes the episode particularly striking is that, in the beginning, the authorities didn’t know that one of the attackers was a woman.Durga Bhabhi was able to escape Bombay before the police could catch her.
A Revolutionary Who Was a Mother and Fighter
Her life is all the more remarkable if we measure it in terms of the social climate at the time.She was a young mother who entered a dangerous revolutionary movement while raising a child. Women were expected to stay away from political and armed resistance in the era that she lived in.
And yet Durga Bhabhi crossed those boundaries. She used disguises, helped revolutionaries, supported underground activities and risked imprisonment and death. Her courage was not limited to that one night in Lahore.
Why was her story overshadowed
The Indian freedom movement produced thousands of heroes, but public memory has naturally focused on a smaller number of nationally recognised figures.
Durga Bhabhi’s story was closely connected with famous revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh and Chandrashekhar Azad, and so her very identity as a revolutionary was often pushed to the background.
That is why her story is especially important today. She should not be remembered only as “the woman who helped Bhagat Singh escape.” She deserves to be remembered as Durga Bhabhi a revolutionary in her own right.
Her story reminds us that India's independence was not achieved by a handful of famous personalities alone. It was forged by the courage, sacrifice and determination of countless people whose names never became part of mainstream history.
And among those forgotten names is a woman who once risked everything to help a revolutionary escape and later took the fight directly to the British. Her name was Durgawati Devi. India remembers her as Durga Bhabhi.
