“Qadam Khair”, a female warrior in East Kurdistan

Qadam Khair born in 1899 was the daughter of lord Qandi in the southern part of Lorestan near Hosseinyeh, a town close to Andimeshk.

She was a brave woman from the Qallavand tribe that was a branch of the Drikvand clan. This tribe lived in the “Bala Griveh” region which is a part of Lorestan province. “Bozorg” was a wise man from that tribe who lived a hundred and twenty years ago. “Qani” (Qandi) was one of Bozorg’s children who grew up to be of a high character and brave person and was well-known for his great manners and generosity. Qani had several children himself. “Baba khan” and “Abbas” among his sons and “Qadam Khair” and “Gwetala” among his daughters were known for their bravery in battles even far away from Lorestan’s borders. Qadam Khair was a courageous and fearless woman; she was also very beautiful. When a battle would happen among the tribes, she would support her men in the battle. If the fighting men were to be defeated, she would bravely take food supplies and weapons to the front lines and would save them from serious damage.

At the beginning of Pahlavi’s leadership in Iran, the army had just arrived in Lorestan from the west of Iran. A battle began between Qadam Khair’s brothers and the army forces. A great battle with tens of dead men. The people of Lorestan wanted to prevent Iran’s army and didn’t want to let them step into their homelands. However, after Qadam Khair and her men defended the lands heroically, her brother Abbas khan got killed thus she was forced to surrender. These events happened from 1928 to 1931.

Qadam Khair married her cousin and had a son named Mohammad khan who died recently. During those years government armed forces fought with people from Tufaw and Khonilah to defeat them. In that battle Qadam Khair’s husband named Safquli and her brother, Fazil faced the army in the Gavazin mountains. The army encircled them from every angle. Safquli got killed in that battle. A part of Qadam Khair’s people was still under attack. She took water, armor, bullets, and supplies to her brother’s trench and saved them all and fought back alongside them. Most of the time she was occupied with fighting and helping her brothers to give food and bullets to the men. Until the time Pahlavi was completely established in Khoram Abad, Qadam Khair and her two brothers fought greatly with the army under Brigadier General Esfandiari’s command.

Finally in 1929 after her brothers, Abbas khan and Baba khan, got killed, Qadam Khair surrendered after a long fight alongside her comrades. After all those battles she got ill and died in 1933. There is a debate among the sources about her grave’s whereabouts. Some say she was buried in Andimeshk and some others believe she was buried in Karbala in Iraq.

There are many poems, lyrics, and songs about her bravery. Epic poems and songs are still well-known to the people of Lorestan. Because Qadam Khair’s charismatic personality influenced people’s minds and language, she became a part of their poems and music. Nowadays there are many poems about her, each of which reveals an aspect of her character. There are also some songs about her. In fact, the main lyric about her is a “Maqam” named “Meqami Qadam Khair” which is an epic maqam in Lorestan. Mojtaba Mirzadeh, a Kurdish musician, had composed a beautiful melody for it with kamancheh.

Among these songs, there is a famous one called “Qadam Khair” which was first sung by a man named “Marawk” (Morad Bag) and presented her as a mythic character.

John Cecil Edmonds who was the political agent of England in Iran from 1915 to 1917 talks about the story and the songs about Qadam Khair in his travelogue when he visited Lorestan. Eskandar Amanollahi and Leili Bakhtiari have translated this book into Persian. A. B Sun visited the Darikvandi tribes on a voyage in 1917 and collects many poems about Qadam Khair.

Qadam Khair is coming this way

She’s ready for the war

With a loaded pistol in her turban

Qadam Khair comes up from the downhills, enjoying the battle

Her opponents don’t feel safe with her in the battle

I’ll make a pretty crown for you with oregano leaves

So, the sun won’t blaze your beautiful hair

Qadam Khair is walking by the stars

She loves Morad Bag who is wearing green

She’s walking on the terrace

She loves a young man who has a Jackson gun over his shoulder

Her father’s house is in “Tufaw”