READY for battle: Girls practise Paika. Picture by Sanjiv Mukherjee

Talcher, Jan. 12: A girl rushes out of Shilpanchal Mahila Mahavidyalaya followed by a dozen others. In a red-bordered sari and shining armour, she leaps high, a three-foot sword in her hand, as others pounce on her. For the next few minutes, she fights like a true Paika — the traditional warriors of Orissa.

In the colliery town of Talcher in the backward district of Angul, Binapani Bhutia and her friends are some of the 30 girls who have decided to master the traditional martial art, so long learnt only by men. They are part of the Rani Sukadei Vahini, the first all-woman Paika regiment in the state.

Folklore has it that Sukadei, the queen of Banki, plunged into battle against Dhanurjay Srichandan, the king of Khurda whom her husband had died fighting against. The queen is said to have led a group of Paikas to victory.

But it was left to Sobhagini Devi, the principal of the Shilpanchal Mahila Mahavidyalaya, to revive the legend of the brave queen. “Learning and practising the martial art is the right way to pay homage to the first woman warrior of the state,” she says.

Sobhagini Devi faced opposition both at home and in college when she decided to raise the all-woman battalion in 2001.

But she spoke to the parents to persuade them to let the girls enrol for the regiment. An elderly Paika from nearby Budhapanka village came forward to teach the basics of fighting with swords, spears and sticks.

Today, the regiment boasts of 30 girls. “A revolution seems to be in the air,” says Sharat Dev, a scion of the Talcher royal family who lets the girls practise shooting on the grounds of the Talcher Rifle Club.

The girls did not have it easy. “Not many were convinced when Madam asked our parents to let us out to practice. Everyone asked how it would help a girl,” says Monalisa Swain, who did not find peer support initially.

Now, two years and many practice sessions later, Monalisa says she has never felt more confident.

Binapani, who is good with both swords and spears, agrees. So does Sasmita Sahoo, who is mastering judo and karate along with the techniques of Paika. “I can take on anyone,” she declares.