Tragic Romances: Sohni-Mahiwal

The subcontinental folklore is accentuated by 4 tragic romances: Heer-Ranjha; Sassi-Punnu; Mirza-Sahiba; and Sohni-Mahiwal. Each of these stories is about the unwavering love between 2 individuals. All of these stories end tragically, but the victor in all 4 stories is love. Since love is one of the strongest (if not the strongest) emotions, sufi masters of the subcontinent set out to explain the relationship between God and slave as that of love. These poetic masterpieces make for excellent reading and if I were to trace its roots, I would say Jalaluddin Rumi's "Mathnawi" was the inspiration for such writings. However, that is a seperate topic altogether.

My personal favorite is the story of Sohni, the potter's daughter, and Mahiwal (whose real name was Izzat Baig), the rich trader from Bukhara. Mahiwal came to India for his business as usual with pockets full of gold coins. He set out to the Punjab where at the banks of the Sindhu river his eyes spotted the beautiful Sohni selling her pottery. Mahiwal was enchanted by her beauty and very soon he made it a habit of coming to her shop to simply catch a glimpse of her. He would religiously come to her shop and buy something she made every day!

Soon it became clear to the villagers that they both liked each other and Sohni was forcibly married to someone else. Mahiwal was heartbroken and started living like a hermit in a small hut across the river. He had forsaken his own people and family in Bukhara for the love of Sohni. In the darkness of night, Sohni would come to her side of the river and Mahiwal would swim across to meet her. He would always bring roasted fish for her as a gift. One day, due to high tide, Mahiwal was unable to catch any fish for his Sohni. Being the true lover that he was, he cut out a piece from his thigh and brought it roasted for her.

Sohni saw the bandage on his thigh and wept as Mahiwal told her what he had done. The following nights, Sohni, who didn't know how to swim, would take a large pot, which she used to hide in a bush, to help her float to the other side of the river where she would meet Mahiwal. The news of their romantic rendezvous started spreading like wildfire. Sohni's sister-in-law followed her at night and saw how these 2 lovers were meeting one another. The following night, she replaced the hard baked earthen pitcher with an unbaked one. As their meeting time approached that night, Sohni grabbed the pitcher from the bushes and set out into the river to meet her lover. The fiendish eyes of her sister-in-law looked on in anticipation...

Half way through the river, Sohni's unbaked pot broke open in the river and she started drowning. Mahiwal spotted Sohni drowning calling out for help and with his heavily bandaged thigh jumped into the river to save his love. Having chucked his thigh muscle out, Mahiwal was unable to swim for too long and watched helplessly as Sohni drowned to her death. Mahiwal gave up his effort and drowned to his death as well. Death, perhaps, did not do them apart, rather brought them together for eternity!

Painful, yet beautiful at the same time. Here is a song by Mekaal Hassan on the tragic romance between Heer and Ranjha. I highly recommend that you guys hear this brilliant song. It is a fusion of classical eastern vocals and flute with jazz-style drumming, bass and rhythm guitaring. These guys are my favorite band these days and as an ex-musician I understand the musical genius in their composition. Enjoy!