Sikh matriarch faced death as she had lived — calmly and without fear

By Asia Samachar  | Malaysia |

She was nine when she lost her mother, 20 when she became a widow, and 101 when she faced death with the same quiet strength that had carried her through nearly a century of hardship, family responsibility and service.

The Sikh matriarch spoke openly and without fear about the approaching end.

“Menu khushi khushi de naal thorio” (ਮੇਨੂ ਖੁਸ਼ੀ ਖੁਸ਼ੀ ਦੇ ਨਾਲ ਥੋਰੀਓ)—“Let me go happily,” she told her family several times.

She had one other clear wish: there should be no rituals after her death.

Mata Achint Kaur died peacefully on July 1, just 12 days before her 102nd birthday. Her century-long life had been marked by devotion to family, service to others and a simple Sikhi rooted in Gurbani rather than ritual.

Her acceptance of death reflected a Sikh understanding of human life as finite, precious and not to be burdened by fear.

Speaking on the concept of physical death as presented in Gurbani, Sikh presenter Karminder Singh Dhillon said the Sri Guru Granth Sahib liberates people from fears that have been preached and planted in their minds. CLICK HERE FOR THE SERMON.

“Gurbani is liberating, Gurbani is emancipating. Gurbani is unshackling. Gurbani frees us from fears, especially fears pertaining to death,” he said, adding that people must choose to seek that liberation through Gurbani. “Human life is priceless precisely because it does not happen a second time,” he said.

SEE ALSO: Remembering Mata Achint Kaur, our beloved Iron Lady

Achint’s eldest son, Pritam Singh (Preton), said his mother had been clear about her final wishes.

“She wanted no rituals after her death, nothing that was not inline with Gurbani principles. No death anniversaries (barsi) after the Antim Ardas,” he said.

He recalled that she listened intently to progressive Sikh speakers such as Inder Singh Ghaga, who challenged prevailing beliefs and practices by drawing upon the Sri Guru Granth Sahib.

Born on July 13, 1924, Achint encountered hardship early. After losing her mother at nine, she was taken in and raised by the Pethe family in Ipoh, with whom she maintained a close and lifelong bond.

She taught herself to sew so that she could make clothes for the younger members of the family, beginning a skill that would later become part of her service to others.

At 17, she married Harnam Singh, a police officer. Three years later, she was widowed and left to care for their one-year-old son. She later moved to Penang to be near her father, remarried and raised a larger family.

“Toki Lall Singh Kallah and his wife Phajan Kaur of Pateh, Kuala Kangsar Road, Ipoh, adopted my mother, brought her up, got her married to my father late Hanam Singh, as they had no children of their own,” said Pritam.

At the Penang gurdwara, she taught sewing to women and girls for many years. Her influence endured across generations. One former student recently recalled learning to sew from Achint when she was only seven.

To her family, she was a devoted mother and grandmother who was always ready to respond when her children needed her. Her granddaughter, Parmeet Kaur, remembered her as a calm and gentle presence who remained independent and composed until the end.

“She prepared for her departure with absolute dignity, leaving this world exactly as she lived in it—independent, peaceful and fully prepared,” Parmeet said in an eulogy delivered at a prayer programme at Gurdwara Sahib Subang on July 11, 2026.

After a life marked by childhood loss, early widowhood and the responsibilities of holding a family together, Achint face

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