A Love Tale

It is surprising what one can unearth if they look into the literature of another land and another time. The results can be amazing and you may find a new way of expressing yourself. So too did I come upon something amazing from Punjabi literature. Now Punjabi is a very old language dating back to the 12th century for sure when its script was made but it may have been older than that even. It is an extremely rich language and sadly I do not understand all of it but like I said I unearthed a gem. Here are a few lines I will leave you, with the English transliteration and the meaning.

Mahee, mahee kookdee, maiy aapay ranjhan hoee
Ranjhan ranjhan sab koee, heer na aakhoo koee

My beloved, My beloved I call out incessantly, that I myself became Ranjha
Ranjha, Ranjha call me just that, No one dare call me Heer

This is from the story of Heer-Ranjha, a very popular folktale from the Punjab. I don’t know the whole story but just happened to come across this couplet and I thought it would be nice to share it. The story deals with the separation of two lovers much like Romeo and Juliet, where Heer is synonymous to Juliet and Ranjha to Romeo. The meaning of this couplet is to show us that due to the separation of the two lovers, Heer who has been calling out Ranjha’s name has become Ranjha by merging herself with the identity of Ranjha. Such was the love that she preferred to be called Heer no more and wanted to go by Ranjha. In other words two souls became one because of the love. That is true love. Note the initials of the two characters i.e. Heer and Ranjha, there is something striking about them and their similarity. Hope you enjoyed this foray into foreign literature.