Bodhisane and Veer sepoys are sitting under a banyan tree. The chirping of birds is heard on this gentle old banyan tree. It has been the duty of both of them to recite Waris Shah’s Heer in Suras and poetry for four decades. It is also normal for listeners to get confused.
Waris Shah’s shrine is located near Lahore at Jandiala Sher Khan, where pilgrims flock. There are some fakirs like Bodi Sain and Veer Sepahi who have devoted their lives to Waris Shah.
He sings, writes and recites poetry here every day. Veer Sepahi recently retired from the police department as an inspector. Now their permanent abode is this old banyan tree in the premises of Waris Shah’s mausoleum.
Veer Sepahi said that he has been living here for more than four decades. During his career he also promoted diamonds and poetry, he is the author of several books.
In the annual Urs held at Waris Shah’s mausoleum, Heer devotees cross barriers and borders and come here from other countries to pay homage to Heer.
On the moonlit night of every fourteenth day, brave soldiers organize a special gathering in the premises of Waris Shah’s mausoleum.
Veer Sepahi says that even after Waris Shah, the story of Heer Ranjhe continued to be told but no Heer could reach the Heer of Waris Shah.
He says, “Waris Shah does not need any criticism, appreciation and acceptance after the certificate he received from his teacher.” Bulleh Shah and Waris Shah had the same teacher. When Ustad Hazrat Ghulam Murtaza came to know about ‘Heer Ranjha’, he expressed his displeasure and said ‘Bulhe Shah played sarangi after getting knowledge and you wrote Heer.’
When you didn’t answer, the teacher locked him in the room. On the second day Waris Shah was called from the room and ordered to narrate the story. After hearing the story, he said, ‘Heirs! You have given all the jewels in the rope of Monj.
“Heer’s mausoleum is not in Heer’s tales, but in the forest”
Heer’s tomb may not be mentioned in any story, but the shrine of Heer Ranjhe not only exists on the banks of river Chenab in the city of Jhang in the Punjab province of Pakistan, but even today there is a crowd of lovers here.
The local population believes that this is the place where Heer Ranjha fell into the clutches of love’s enemies and the earth split and both of them fell into the ground.
A part of Heer’s dupatta was left out of the ground, which the then ruler Bahlul Lodhi also saw in his dream. When his boat did not go beyond that point in the Chenab, he understood the signal, then he had the shrine of Heer built there.
Offerings at Heer’s shrine to obtain man’s wishes
“We come here to get our wishes and we tie the threads of our vows.”
Bangles are offered here for marriage of choice. Swings for the female offspring and colorful threads are the amen of different wishes and when the wish is fulfilled, those who get the wish again turn here and offer sacrifices.
The above mentioned things have been related to Heer’s shrine by some of the newly married couples who came to Heer’s shrine in Jhang.
Most of the women who come here are wary about coming on camera and revealing their identity. That is why their identity is not being revealed here.
Ma (pseudonym) said, “The story is told in homes that Heer Ranjha were very sincere with each other. Some parents don’t like to tell this story to their children, so they come here after hearing it from everywhere. However, my parents tell me this story so that we learn something from this incident.
Tahrim (pseudonym) says that the love of Heer Syal and Dhidu Ranjhe was so true that we also get meaning from here. We think their love was real and not imaginary.
Raveena, who came from Shurkot Tehsil of Jhang, said that ‘Heer belonged to the great Nawab family of Jhang and came here from a common family of Ranjha Takht Hazare, social discrimination created difficulties for her.’
According to him, caste is still a big issue in some families and social differences are still considered as important. In Raveena’s opinion, ‘Despite education and awareness, the difficulties for lovers are still the same.’
Now, for some time, leaving these lovers at Heer’s shrine, we try to find out whether this is a story or not.
Who was Heer and how did this story begin?
Oral stories about Heer have been told since ages, but the first Punjabi poet to compose this story in Punjabi was Damodar Das Arora (Gulati).
Manzoor Ejaz, an expert on Punjabi literature based in America, says that Damodar Das’s (1568-1486) scenography is so wonderful that it is like a movie script.
Damodar begins his story with Heer, a local girl who used to come to his shop as a child to buy sudsalaf. Then, at the age of 12, she falls in love with Ranjhe of Takht Hazara. But the difference in caste and social status becomes a big obstacle in their love. With the help of his uncle, Heer is married off to Sayde Khede of Rangpur. From here the story takes a new turn. Herr Ranjha finds new ways to find each other.
In the story of Damodar, there was a daughter of the Siyal family of Heer Jhang, who falls in love with her servant Ranjhe, but the family and clan do not agree to marry her off to a servant or someone lower in social status.
Apparently, this story was written during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar, which is the 16th century. Akbar is also mentioned in the Diamond of Damodar.
بادشاہی جو اکبر سندی، حیل نہ حجت کائی
پتر چار چوچک گھر ہوئے، دمودر آکھ سنائیں
Manzoor Ejaz said that Damodar narrated this incident as if it were a real incident, but in his opinion, Damodar did so only to add color to the story:
“Akhin Ditha Kisa Keita, Me Tan Guni Ni Koi”
Manzoor Ejaz says that Damodar Das himself was not a resident of Jhang but of Amritsar.
After Damodar, this story was recorded by different writers. During the reign of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, the stories of Ahmad Kui (1682) and after him Shahjahan Muqbal from Chiniot became famous, but even today it is said that Heer is only ‘Heer-e Waris Shah’.
How did Waris Shah’s diamond get lasting fame?
Hundreds of stories, songs, films and plays have been written on Heer but still it seems that Heer’s story is incomplete. Perhaps Waris Shah also felt the same lack
Waris Shah wrote the story of Heer in the 18th century (1766) and then it became popular, also known as ‘Diwan Punjab’.
Punjabi poet and researcher Tariq Bhatti says that ‘Waris Shah reached the heights Heer reached, which could not be reached by any other poet.’ Waris is the rank of Shah.
He said that Waris Shah summed up the cultural, civilized, social and civil scenario of 18th century Punjab in this story. He has also raised questions on the exploiting classes or the dominant institutions of the time who were oppressing the people.
According to Tariq Bhatti, Waris Shah first depicted the institutions of feudalism, Qazi (judiciary), Panjait, dynasty and Jhok in a dramatic way from a distance, which looked very beautiful, but when he showed them all up close, then they became ugly. And also bring out the shortcomings.
Now when the heirs go inside the Shah Takht Hazara, there they show the cruelty done to Ranjhe by the Qazi (Judge) and the brothers. After the death of his father, Ranjhe’s brothers bribe the judge and keep the good land of inheritance for themselves and give the barren land to Ranjhe. Waris Shah then received good news from the bribe-taking Qazi
And when Waris Shah came close to the mosque, he addressed the Maulvi and said, “You have covered the Shariat.” Those who are more sinful (give money), you are benevolent to them. You are only interested in the smell of sweets. Like the blind, the lepers and the crippled, you keep wondering in which house someone died and in which house someone was born.
Scholars say that Waris Shah has described the culture, economy, politics, philosophy, Sufism, psychology and human relations of his time through Heer.
Waris Shah locked Punjab in a jar. Ram Babu Saxena, an important historian of the history of Urdu literature, had to write on this achievement that ‘Unfortunately, no waris-shah was born in the Urdu language.’
Dr. Roosh Nadeem explains it in a different way. According to him, in the year 1964, Faiz Ahmed Faiz wrote a paper in which he said that “I am sad that I can say a poem like Ghalib but I cannot say a verse like Waris Shah.”
Dr. Roosh had said at the launch of Punjabi and Urdu poet Rana Saeed Doshi’s ‘Heer Doshi: Kedu Banam Waris Shah’ that ‘I remember that in my childhood I saw this myself that after the Fajr prayer in Punjab, elders After the recitation of the Qur’an, the recitation of Heer was also considered as a duty.’
According to Tariq Bhatti, Waris Shah was ahead of his time and the questions he raised in a civilized and creative manner went deep into the hearts of the people. Heer Waris Shah’s authenticated manuscript contains about 631 stanzas, in which philosophy, music, sociology, sociology, civilization, wisdom, fields, ornaments, women, social hierarchy, rituals, sand and customs will be found.
When Ranjha arrives at Rangpur, the land of deer, in search of a deer as a jogi, he questions who he is, where he comes from and what his caste is. In Waris Shah’s Heer, Ranjha replies that a lion, a snake and a poor man have no land. Their homeland is where they are standing and breathing.
Rana Saeed Doshi has discussed Waris Shah’s Heer in his Heer Doshi. However, while acknowledging the status and position of Waris Shah, he has disagreed with him on some aspects. Unlike Waris Shah, he has portrayed Sayedi Khede and Kedu as oppressed while describing Ranjhe as a frivolous lover. According to Saeed Doshi:
According to Saeed Doshi, Waris Shah has taken entire quotes from Shah Jahan Muqbal’s Heer in his Heer and Ahmad Koi has written Heer in Bahr.
Manzoor Ejaz agrees to the extent that Waris Shah’s diamond is very close to Ahmad Koi’s diamond. However, in his opinion, the story of Waris Shah is completely different from the story of Shah Jahan Muqbal.
According to him, in the story of Shahjan Muqbal, Ranjha leaves the throne of Hazara because there is injustice in the family over the division of land with him, while in the story of Waris Shah, Ranjha is being harassed by his sisters and taunting him that where are you? You can make the diamond your own.
Shahjaan introduces Muqul Ranjhe as a very civilized person while Waris is verbally abusive to Shah Mulla. Some of the stories now available in the name of Waris Shah refer to various abuses, which are attributed to hired poets, who were paid by publishers to add more verses to Heer’s story for commercial purposes and then They used to write ‘woody and real diamonds’ on the cover and sell them. Diamond sales are said to have peaked in the late 90s.
According to Manzoor Ejaz, it is also true that Waris Shah has used harsh words in his speech which are used in common speech.
Researcher and author of several books in Punjabi, Najam Hussain Syed, in his Punjabi book ‘Lokkan Kamliyan Nanu Qisa Hashiar’, discussing how abuse is made, wrote that the history of abuse is as old as a man’s woman. Ruled over. It should be noted that in the past, publishers and government institutions also published several versions of Heer-e-Waris Shah by putting dots or changing the words on some of the words of Waris Shah.
Prof. Fateh Muhammad Malik, while commenting on the words of Heer Waris Shah, said that “Waris Shah’s excellence is that he has changed the romantic language into a spiritual language.”
According to Manzoor Ejaz, Waris Shah’s Heer is closer to the concrete realities of society, while Damodar’s story goes towards miracles and Heer is depicted as a warrior who comes out with a bow and arrow and leads an army. increases while it ends with sweeping the Kaaba.
In his opinion, Waris Shah tries to stay closer to rationality and pragmatism in his work. Waris Shah’s Heer is common sense, which aims to bring out social values. One of the reasons for the popularity of Heer Waris Shah is that it ends in ‘tragedy’.
“Waras Shah’s Kedu is an establishment”
Kedu is described as Heer’s uncle who, in the name of honor, regards his niece Heer’s love for a lower caste or status as an insult to his family and puts various obstacles in Heer’s way. Kido has also been shown as a villain in most of the films.
According to Manzoor Ejaz, Waris Shah has presented Kidu as the ‘defender’ of the establishment. Kedu himself is a free man but tells Heer that he is not above social values. In his opinion, Kedu has a small role in this diamond.
Ranjha grazes the buffaloes of Heer’s father Chochak, i.e. is his servant. Now in the culture of Punjab, a Jhang landlord is not ready to marry his daughter to a servant. According to him, the local customs are also the same. Waris Shah has also briefly mentioned Heer’s brother Sultan in his Heer.
According to Tariq Bhatti, Waris Shah made Heer a hero and it is also historically true that a woman is empowered in the culture of Punjab and her father and brother consider it auspicious to give the keys to the house. In most Punjabi folktales, the girl’s name comes first and is written more on her.
Rana Saeed Doshi said that ‘Waris Shah killed Heer and made him immortal.’
Rana Saeed is not an enemy of Doshi, but a well-wisher. However, instead of giving a final verdict in Heer Doshi, a long history has been added and in one of his poems, Rana Syed Doshi wrote that more writers will come to tell this story and ‘vela rakiya nayen’ meaning time has not stopped yet. That the final decision should be pronounced.
But the question arises whether the story of Hare is based on any historical event?
What is the reality of the diamond and who treated the diamond?
No one knows for sure about Heer whether he was a real character or not, but the story of Heer has a geographical aspect in that it reflects the tensions between the local castes of Punjab.
According to Tariq Bhatti, the poet is breathing in a dynamic age. Waris Shah created the diamond based on his imagination and thought. According to him, when a poet adapts a historical event, story or myth into poetry, then he is not bound by the facts like a journalist.
According to him, under Waris Shah’s diamond, Punjab seems to breathe with full color. Waris Shah has also criticized the shortcomings and also described the social reality through the characters.
Heer may not be a real character, but in the rhymed stories, even the image of Heer has been described, as if he is a fairy, a fairy and no one can match his beauty. Waris Shah wrote:
Damodar Das, in his story, transports Heer to the Kaaba with Ranjhe. A few pilgrims told Damodar that they had seen Heer and Ranjhe sweeping the Kaaba.
In the story of Shahjahan Muqbal, Heer sleeps eternally. It was also concluded that when Heer was fleeing to Ranjha, he was captured by the soldiers of Adli Raja and then taken to the king’s court. Adli Raja first handed Heer over to his Sial community, but when he got angry with his settlement, he handed Heer over to Ranjhe.
Waris Shah’s heir poisons his niece Heer and Ranjha dies on hearing this news.
Even after the passage of three hundred years, the magic of the diamond is still speaking, every day hundreds of ‘diamonds’ come with their ‘ranjha’ in the embrace of the diamond (the shrine) and talk about their secrets and heart and the meaning of their heart. ask for
Heer’s story may be a myth, but Heer’s followers call it reality. He says that Heer and Ranjha are born even today, but today there is no ‘Waras Shah’ to write their sorrows.
A couple came out of Heer’s shrine tying ‘Dhaga’ and talking to ‘My Heer’, looking at the camera, ‘Izzat Bibi’ in the presence of ‘Mian Ranjhe’ only said, ‘Diamonds’. Don’t defame, that’s it! Waris Shah, these are messages.