SHEROES OF FREEDOM

From the women who hoisted the flag from inside a jail, and those who took over from fallen comrades to those who joined the INA in Southeast Asia.... TMS spotlights the ongoing Hamara Itihaas exhibition on little-known women who fought for freedom, but were forgotten by our textbooks.

- ADITHI REENA AJITH

ADITHI REENA AJITH HEN we think of W the freedom struggle, the Revolt of 1857, Dandi March, Mahatma Gandhi and Bhagat Singh, who fought to break the chains of colonial rule, mainly come to mind. Yet, there are faces and stories that Indians barely know of. Janaki Thevar, Subhadra Khosla, Momota Mehta and Bibi Amar Kaur, among others, played their part sometimes by a single gesture, at other times by picking up the baton from a fallen comrade, and by marching in a regiment.

On the walls of India International Centre's Main Art Gallery, photographs of the ongoing 'Hamaara Itihaas Archives of Freedom Fighters' (HIAFF) exhibition bring many of them out of obscurity. The show of these grainy, black-and-white photographs of women in crisp military uniforms, or in humble saris with a rifle in hand, arrives on time as India celebrates its 79th Independence Day. But unlike grand military parades or patriotic replays of textbook heroes, it becomes a space for those who never made it to the headlines.

Considered India's first and "perhaps only" international archive focusing on women freedom fighters from Southeast Asia, the exhibition showcases over 100 photographs, video interviews, 16mm film, letters, documents, and newspaper clippings. Much of the material comes from writerfilmmaker Sagari Chhabra's own recordings and photographs from personal meetings with these women since 1995 with her HIAFF team, while other pieces have been sourced from families, private collections, and national archives.

Women in uniform A section of the exhibition honours Indian-origin women of the Indian National Army's (INA) Rani of Jhansi Regiment.

Formed in 1943 by Subhas Chandra Bose, the regiment drew inspiration from Rani Lakshmibai, defeated in the 1857 Battle of Jhansi by Major General Hugh Rose, who famously described her as "a man among mutineers".