‘I shall paint my nails with the blood of those that covet me’: Kashmir’s Women’s Militia and Independence-era Nationalism

Abstract

Abstract Towards the close of 1947, amid increasing turbulence and conflict in Kashmir, women activists established their own militia and were trained to use rifles – a rare initiative in South Asia even amid the turmoil of Partition and independence. The women were aligned with radical Kashmiri nationalism. Their militia was a self-defence force as well as a demonstration of support for Indian rule in Kashmir and for a democratic dispensation to replace the autocratic maharaja. Although the militia was short-lived and never saw active service, the sight of women drilling in the Kashmiri capital with rifles on their shoulders was a powerful demonstration of a change of regime. The testimony of former members of the women's militia emphasizes the sense of empowerment they gained – though the subsequent trajectory of the unresolved Kashmir conflict has clouded over this episode of women's political activism.