Legend of Sohni Mahiwal: Beyond an immortal love story & musical folklore
Sohni Mahiwal, the two divine lovers who could not spend a lifetime together but are still named together even today, when centuries have passed since this eternal story existed. Their story has passion and a devotion to seeing the beloved one each day despite the worldly norms and nature’s fury.
The immortal legend
Sohni, the daughter of renowned potter Tulla, was a skilled painter who helped her father design beautiful pots. Izzat Baig, a rich young man from Uzbekistan, came to buy some pots when he saw Sohni painting on a pot and was mesmerized by her.
He visited each day until his fellow travellers returned and his supply of money ended. Sohni’s father kept him as a Mahiwal (Buffalo herder). Their love blossomed, but Sohni was married off to another potter who lived nearby.
A distraught Mahiwal built a hut across the Chenab river, waiting for his Sohni. To see her beloved one, Sohni,who didn’t know swimming, swam across the high tides of Chenab using an Earthen pot (Ghada). Every day, she swam across to see a glimpse of Mahiwal, who used to wait all day beside the shore of Chenab.
One such day, her sister-in-law, out of jealousy, exchanged her earthen pot (Ghada) with a half-baked one(Kachcha Ghada). And Sohni, as usual, took the earthen pot to swim across Chenab and meet Mahiwal, but as fate had got it, Sohni realized midway into the river that the pot was slowly dissolving as it was a half-baked one.
Still, she was adamant about meeting Mahiwal, knowing that she would drown amidst the high tides of Chenab. Sohni drowned in the Chenab while Mahiwal jumped into the river after witnessing a drowning Sohni. It was the next day when their dead bodies were recovered from the river. Though they departed from the earth, their legend is still very much alive as their immortal love.
Beyond the immortal legend
The legend of Sohni Mahiwal, in which a half-baked earthen pot led to her drowning amidst the high tides, is often used as a metaphor in Sufi poetry to describe the importance of the right spiritual guide. A true teacher is like a full-baked earthen pot that does not submerge in worldly spins.
Such a teacher would help a devotee swim across the high tides of worldly distress toward divine energy. But if the teacher is not spiritually awakened, the devotee will drown in worldly distress, unable to reach the divine.
The importance of the right spiritual guide is mentioned in Sufi poetry, citing Sohni’s drowning. This immortal legend of spiritual love unfolds with a deep, hidden meaning.
Musical Folklores and its influence
This immortal love legend has been sung for centuries in the form of mesmerizing folklore such as Paar Chanaa De and Kande Utte Meherman ve. The lyrics often come out as a conversational dialogue between the half-baked earthen pot and Sohni, where the earthen pot tries to stop her, but she proceeds.
