Love in real life is hard enough. The one in folklore either reflects that or draws some inspiration from it. Love and strife, love rendered with trials and tribulations, love - an infinity - and all the rest that stand in the way and complicate happiness for the hearts involved. Love - pure - and the rest trying to blur and obliterate it, and how the lovers try to make things work. The love stories from Pakistan are no different. Lovers who strive, lovers reunite, only to be rendered apart again. Heer Ranjha, a tragic love story, is one of the most famous among this folklore. It is a history located in the Punjab region, which is one of the provinces of present-day Pakistan.
Mr Ranjha
Ranjha leaves his hometown, Takht Hazara
Ranjha was the youngest, and much loved, son born of a wealthy landowner in the village of Takht Hazara. His real name was Dheedo and Ranjha was the name of the tribe he belonged to. As the youngest son, he was a bit spoiled, and enjoyed slipping away the days relaxing in the fields playing the flute. After his father's death, the land was divided between the brothers. The older brothers had never thought too much about Ranjha, and now with their father gone, it became easy for them to divide the best parts of the land among themselves, leaving Ranjha the most barren, arid land to plow and grow food on. Ranjha worked on it for a while, but when nothing seemed to grow on the dry bare land, he left Takht Hazara. He took the whistle with him - music sang in his blood, and had always given him life.
Ranjha's life became difficult. He had to beg for clippings and find shelter wherever any kind of soul would allow him. He always played music to the people around him, and they would immediately be mesmerized by the blissful melodies he played them. When Ranjha reached the Chenab River at sunset, he finally asked a ferry commander named Ludan to take him across the river to the city of Jhang. Ludan refused, since it was almost dark now, and he feared Ranjha to be a thief. Ranjha, retired, settled at the bank to spend the night and played his flute to be gone. The melody was so beautiful and melancholy that the people around asked for Ludan on behalf of Ranjha. The tune had already melted Ludan's heart, and he agreed to take Ranjha across the river.
Heer meets Ranjha
In the ferry, Ranjha made himself comfortable on a sofa that Ludan knew belonged to the daughter of the head of the Sial clan, Heer. Ludan tried to get him to move, but when he saw how tired Ranjha was, and how beautiful his songs felt to his heart, Ludan let it go. The next morning though, when Heer and her friends got on the ferry, Heer did not like it a bit and threatened Ludan. But only until Ranjha opened his beautiful melancholy eyes and something in Heer shifted. Ranjha also fell in love with Heer there and then.
Heer soon took Ranjha to meet his father, Mihr Chuchak, and told him that she had found someone to herd buffaloes. This was Heer's way of trying to keep Ranjha close to him. Heer knew that her father would not approve of Ranjha as a suitor or her boyfriend, so she could not be in front of it. Mir Chuchak thought it was a bit suspicious, but he allowed it anyway. Heer began bringing Ranjha bread and milk every day, into the forest where he worked. She would spend all day with him. But gossip soon began to build up and rise, like a fire in the forest.
Heer and Ranjha not be
It was Kaidu, Heer's uncle, who made it his mission to find out what was going on. He disguised himself as a beggar and walked around looking for Ranjha in the forest. Ranjha could sympathize with the "beggar" and his hunger, from his own days when he had to beg for leftovers. And then Ranjha Kaidu gave half a pastry that Heer had brought him earlier. Kaidu brought it to the villagers and Mir Chuchak as proof of Heer's "will" behavior, and that if Ranjha was continued, he would steal Heer, and this would shame Sial's name. As the pressure grew, Chuchak Ranjha called one night when he had returned from shepherd buffaloes, and dismissed him in front of his men. Ranjha, who had just been fired without being paid for twelve years of hard work, became furious and left. The villagers denied that Chuchak did not pay Ranjha a single rupee. Heer was beyond himself; her grief knew no bounds. Chuchak came to his senses, remembered Ranjha, gave him back his work that would come with pay, and more importantly, married Heer to his beloved Ranjha!
However, their marriage should not be. Chucak's relatives, and his wife and Kaidu, were opposed to this marriage - for Ranjha was just a low-born buffalo shepherd. Heer's marriage was arranged with Saida from the Hera clan despite her protests and declarations of love for Ranjha. Saida took Heer to the village of Rangpur. Ranjha returned to Takhat Hazara, broken heart. The grief would not go away, so Ranjha joined the temple of Gorakh Nath, and became a yogi - a begging monk who gives up all worldly possessions and desires to enter into a "pure" state. When Ranjha and his guru Gorakh Nath realized that Ranjha could not do it - he loved Heer too much to give her up, Gorakh Nath sent a crow out of him to search for Heer high and low.
Ranjha finds his Lord
When the crow found Heer in Rangpur, she gladly announced that Ranjha was still faithful to her. The crow then flew back to Ranjha and told him where she was. Ranjha disguised himself as a beggar and went to Rangpur. Heer's sister-in-law, Sehti, agreed to help them escape from being helped to break free by their own lover, Murad, a camel driver. Ranjha blows on the conch that he got as a yoga at the temple. Murad, miles away, hears the conch in his sleep. He also knows somehow in his sleep that it is Sehti who is shouting at him, and he knows what to do. The next morning he also goes to Rangpur. Meanwhile, the three escape - Heer, Ranjha and Sehti.
The Kheras find out what has happened and send their men out to find the fugitives. When the Khera men catch up with Sehti and Murad, the two are already back in Khera's hometown, where Khera's relatives are protecting the two. But as for Heer and Ranjha, the Khera men are able to catch up with them in Qabula, where King Adali rules. After capturing the two, Khera takes Heer and Ranjha to the king for a verdict. Kaidu comes all the way to Qabula for the hearing, and testifies against Ranjha. Mihr Chuchak, father of Heer, testifies in Ranjha's favor and tells how he had blessed the two in the marriage long ago. King Adali almost agrees, but when he looks at Heer as she enters the courtroom, he finds her extremely beautiful and demands her himself. But the night he tries to visit Heer, Heer asks to part ways with him, and the celestial powers set the king on fire for a moment. This brings King Adali back to himself. He accepts that Heer and Ranjha are getting married, and they are living happily ever after!
The not "happy afterwards" end of the story
However, the most common version of this folk story ends differently. It does not have "happy afterwards". After King Adali allows Heer and Ranjha to marry each other, their families begin to prepare. Ranjha returns to his village to prepare and take his family with him to enjoy the wedding ceremony that is about to take place. Heer's family takes her back to the village to apparently prepare for the wedding. However, some of her relatives, including Uncle Kaidu, are still angry at the idea of marrying a low-born buffalo shepherd. Kaidu somehow feels personally humiliated about how his plans and his testimony in court have failed. He ends up poisoning Heer by lacing the food she is going to eat with poison. Heer eats the poisoned meal and dies there and then. Ranjha finds out about this when he arrives at her village. His grief knows no bounds, and he eats food from the same plate as Heer did. It's the only way for him to find some form of happiness, and they say they will finally be reunited in death!
History and beyond
Heer Ranjha has been written at different times by different authors. The most famous of the versions is from the year 1761, written as a poem by the Punjabi Sufi poet Waris Shah. Some believe that Heer and Ranjha were a real couple who lived not so long ago, and that they are both buried side by side in the city of Jhang in Pakistan. Jhang is also the same town that Ranjha tried to reach by crossing the Chenab River, after leaving the village of Takht Hazara for the first time since his father's death.
The story of Heer Ranjha is similar to many other popular love stories from Pakistan, such as Sohni Mahiwal, Mirza Sahiban and Sassi Punnu, where lovers strive to be reunited, but death is the only kingdom they are finally capable of. You may have noticed it already, but this popular love story seems to share themes and some archaic characters with love stories in other parts and cultures of the world as well - like Romeo and Juliet. It's not a question of who came before which:For all we know, Heer Ranjha is just as old - spoken orally and written down several times - if not older than Romeo and Juliet. The interesting thing to find out is what makes these similarities exist?
Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story - written in play form - about two star-crossed lovers, written by William Shakespeare in 1597. The play takes place in the city of Verona in Italy. Romeo belongs to the Montague family, and Juliet belongs to the Capulet family. The two families have not only been each other's rivals, but sworn enemies, since long forgotten. Romeo and Juliet meet at a ball and fall in love with each other. They continue to meet, express their love for each other and decide to get married. A suitor Laurence secretly marries them, hoping to reconcile the lingering bitterness between Montagues and Capulets. However, one leads to the other, and Romeo is banished by the Prince of Verona. Juliet's father tries to get her to marry Count Paris and threatens her if she does not, he will deny her. She refuses, and asks for her mother's help, who simply refuses to help her. One night before the planned wedding with Count Paris, Juliet drinks a magic potion that will put her in a coma-like, death-like sleep for a while. Capulets bury Juliet in the crypt. Meanwhile, Romeo learns that Juliet is "dead" and drinks the poison next to her body in the crypt. When Juliet wakes up, she realizes that Romeo is dead, and stabs herself to be reunited in death with her beloved Romeo.
The similarities between Heer Ranjha and Romeo and Juliet
In both of these stories - and probably in quite a few other folk tales as well - there is a sense of obligation or duty towards the family that can be seen. Heer from the Sial clan, like Juliet from the Capulet family, was expected to marry "the right person":in Heer's case it could not be the low-born buffalo herder, Ranjha, and in Juliet's case, it could not be a son of a long-sworn enemy, Montagues. The place of responsibility and justice is built into our female protagonist. When she disagrees, she is powerfully married to another.
There also seems to be a character in both stories - something old, a little wise, a little kind - who tries to help the lovers:for Heer Ranjha, it was the yogi guru, Gorakh Nath, at the temple, who helps Ranjha find his beloved Heer by supporting Ranjha and sending out his crow to search from Heer. For Romeo and Juliet, it is Friar Laurence, who tries to unite them and secretly marries them in what he sees as the solution to their problem ..
The element of being banished from the city where the loved one lives and how much pain it causes is repeated in both stories. It means a separation after communion, a detachment from what feels like yours - what feels like a part of you. This is preceded by a rapture:Romeo and Juliet are secretly married to Friar Laurence, and Heer and Ranjha are given blessings by Heer's father, who agrees to marry. The separation in both stories is caused by one - or some family members - not agreeing to the sacrament.
the conclusion
Heer Ranjha is a tragic people love story from Punjab, which has similarities to the play Romeo and Juliet written by Shakespeare. Not only this, but Heer Ranjha shares similarities with some other popular love stories from the region as well. Where do these similarities come from? Can these similarities point to the underlying cultural thinking that may be shared across cultures? Attaching a woman to a sense of responsibility and justice that the family or her relatives pretend to have, the cruel punishment that comes if she disagrees, the contrast between love and marriage, and the focus on how the world will see a community between two hearts . Finally, it makes you wonder if the folk tales are a reflection of at least part of our true love stories, to what extent do they provide feedback on how we culturally conceptualize love?