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PREFACE
This is the
thirty-eighth book, in serial order, compiled
under the Sindhi Adabi Board’s Folklore &
Literature Project, approved in 1956 for the
collection, compilation and publication of
Sindhi Folklore.
The work on this
Project was started in January 1957, and the
first two years were devoted mainly to the
collection of the oral tradition and the written
record. The oral tradition was reduced to
writing through a net-work of field workers, one
stationed in each taluka area. The compilation
and publication work commenced from 1959. So
far, 32 volumes have been published and this is
the thirty-third of the forty volumes proposed
to be published under this Project.
This book belongs
to the series of volumes pertaining to the most
popular and time-honoured folk stories which
have captured the imagination of the people of
the Lower Indus Valley of Sind for more than one
thousand years. Of the ten volumes in this
series, seven (Books 29 to 35) are devoted to
the stories of love and romance: one ( (Book 36)
recounts the story of personal valour and the
inventive technique by which the hero killed a
sea monster by diving deep in a specially built
“Glass-Capsule”; one more (No. 37) recounts the
story of a village girl who resists the
overtures of king and the temptation to rule as
a queen in the palace and prefers to live in the
simple rural environment with her village folk;
and this volume covers two stories, one of a
munificent chief who sacrificed his life at the
altar of music and the other of the two lovers
who defied the custom and stood by each other to
the very last.
SORATH-RAO DIYACH
Through field
research, a number of versions of this story,
current in oral tradition, were recorded, and
these reveal at least six main versions[1]
from the point of the more significant
differences in details. It would appear that two
entirely different stories – the one of Sorath &
Rao Diyach and the other of Sorath & Binjho –
were mixed up in the oral lore because of the
common name of Sorath (the heroine) in them,
thus giving birth to other mixed versions of the
story. Also the story of Ranak Devi & Rao
Khanghar current in the Nagarparkar area of
Sind[2]
is a distinct story though with parallels in the
names of Rao Khanghar and Bijal.
Rao Khanghar,
also known as Rao Diyach, of the Chora Samma
dynasty was the powerful ruler of Junagadh.
Sorath was the beautiful maid born of a miracle
wrought by the wandering saints, in the house of
Raja Bhoj of Sankaldip (or Ambal Des), but was
brought up by a potter named Ratan (or Pall).
She was given in marriage to one Raja Ani Rao
(of Ajmer). The marriage ceremonies
were held in his absentia, and as the bride was
being taken to her prospective husband, Rao
Khanghar intercepted the procession and married
Sorath who then became devotedly attached to
him.
In vengeance, Ani
Rao attacked Junagadh but found himself helpless
due to the invincibility of Rao Khanghar’s
stronghold, the fort of ‘Upper-Kote’. To avenge
the insult, he planned to take advantage of Rao
Khanghar’s known personal weakness, viz. his
munificence and magnanimity not to refuse
anything that was demanded of him by the
traditional bards and his devotion to music.
There was a
wandering bard, a Charan by caste named Bijal,
who had incidentally come across the intestine
of an animal in the bush, which on being moved
by the wind were producing sweet superb music,
enchanting even the animals of the bush. He took
gut strings of the entrails for his stringed
instrument – remembered differently as Kamāch,
Keenaro, Chang, Surando or Tunbo (a sort of
lute, guitar or tanbur) – and soon became known
for the power of music that he played on it.
Now, Ani Rao sent
his men who tempted Bijal’s wife to accept a
rich reward on the condition that she would
persuade her husband to use the power of his
superb music with Rao Diyach, influence him to
give anything that Bijal asked for, and then
insist upon Rao Khanghar to demonstrate his
traditional generosity and give him his own head
as a reward.
When Bijal came
home, he was informed by his wife that she had
accepted the deal at the risk of their lives.
So, there was no choice left for him but to
accomplish the mission. Also it was a challenge
to his art and he determined to meet it.
Bijal then set
out for Junagadh, and on reaching the gates of
the fort, he took out his instrument and sat
down to play upon it with all the talent and
technique at his command. The news spread around
that a great musician had arrived, and soon the
whole city fell under the spell of his powerful
tunes. Rao Khanghar invited him up in the fort,
listened to him with admiration and offered to
give him anything he asked for.
Bijal: I
am no beggar, oh Sire! Hearing of your
proverbial generosity, I have travelled a long
distance to seek something which no one else
could give.
Diyach: You
will get anything you want.
Bijal:
Your head, Oh generous Sire!
Diyach: I wish
I had a thousand of heads on my shoulders so
that I could cut one by one as a tribute to each
one of your sweet tunes! Alas! I have but only
one head which is hardly worth anything. Please
consider again if this empty head will be of any
use to you!
Bijal: I
will have nothing else but your head, Sir!
Diyach: Then,
you will have it.
When Sorath came
to know of it, she pleaded with Bijal not to
deprive her of her dear husband. She begged him
to ask for anything else – horses, elephants,
silver, gold, everything and all that they
possessed, but spare her husband’s life.
Bijal did not
yield. Then at the appointed time, Rao Diyach
cut his head to him. Bijal took it to Ani Rao
who was much pleased, but he also hated Bijal
for his cruelty. Sorath claimed that she would
become a Satti and prepared to burn herself.
Bijal and his wife repented and rushed to Sindh
to join Sorath in her mourning. When they
arrived, fire was already lit with Sorath
sitting on the Dāgh. As the fire rose,
conscience stricken Bijal jumped into the fire
followed by his wife who also became a satti
with him.
In the local
cultural context, the key points of impact of
this story are as follows:
Bijal’s discovery
of the gut strings, and the power of his music.
Rao Diyach’s
willingness to reward Bijal with his own head.
Sorath’s
pleadings and entreaties with Bijal to take
everything else but to spare the life of her
loving husband.
Rao Diyach’s
unexcelled munificence and his complete
identification with the spirit of music – a
spiritual communion with the divine.
HIR – RANJHO
It is a
well-known love story of the present Jhang and
Muzaffargarh Districts of the Punjab, which
became popular in the Punjab and Sind. The early
account of the story -imoder of Jhang (1512
A.D.), who claimed to have passed the events of
the story himself, and the Persian Masnavi
composed by the poet Baqi (1580-1605 A.D.),[3]
would indicate the romance had originated
earlier (before 1512 A.D)become well-known
during the reign of Akbar (d. 1605) have become
a theme for poetic compositions.
Most of the poets
who versified the romance in Persian, belonged
either to the Punjab or Sind. It was during the
reign of the Kalhoras and the talpurs that the
following works were composed in Persian in
Sindh:
Mahabbat-Namah, a
work in stylistic (rhythmic) prose, by the poet
Shevakram of Thatta (1771-1776 A.D.).
Masnavi-Hir-wa-Ranjha, composed by Azimuddin of
Thatta in 1214 H/1799.
Masnavi-i-Hir-wa-Ranjha, composed by Ziauddin `Zia`
of Thatta in 1215 H/1800.
Masnavi-i-Hir-wa-Ranjha, composed by Munshi
Saheb Rao `azad` (1801-1811).
Masnavi of
Hir-wa-Ranjha, composed by Nawwab wali Muhammad
Khan Leghari `Wali` (1811-1820).
The romance
versified in a long Qit’ah by Qadir Bakhsh `Bedil`
in 1876.
In the native
languages, `Hir` composed by Waris shah (1180
H/1776) in Punjabi gained wide popularity. His
version translated into English by C.F. Usborne
sometime before August 1917, has been recently
published.[4]
A number of poets
have composed verses in Seraiki, which (in its `Jhangwali`
dialect) was the mother tongue of Hir herself,
but a complete version of the romance in Seraiki
has not yet come to light, the Si-Harfis (thirty
stanzas each commencing with one of the thirty
letters of the alphabet), composed in Seraiki by
the two renowned poets of Sind, Khalifo Nabi
Bakhsh Leghari and Hamal Khan Leghari,[5]
stand unexcelled thus far. In Sindhi, the
romance was composed in the bait poems by Haider
Shah in 1290/1873.[6]
In Sind, the story also came to be recited in
the artistic form of narration by the wandering
bards and minstrels. One version in this form
which was recorded from the talented bard Maula
Bakhsh of Hyderabad district has been included
in this volume.[7]
Hyderabad Sind.
N.A. Baloch
15th February,
1976. Director
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