Sohni Mahiwal
- Malkiat Singh Duhra
- Jun 2
- 2 min read
Sohni was born in the town of Gujarat, Punjab to a potter named Tulla in the 18th century. Tulla belonged to the Kumar community. She was extremely beautiful and she helped her father in his business. At that time, Gujarat was located on the banks of the Chenab river. As Sohni grew up, she helped her father to decorate his pots. Their shop was near the Ram Pyari Mahal by the river. As soon as the Surahis (water-pictures) and mugs came off the wheel, she would draw artistic designs on them and set them for sale. Izzat Baig, a rich trader from Bukhara, came to Punjab on business and stopped in Gujarat. Here he saw Sohni at the shop and was completely smitten. Just to get a glimpse of Sohni, he would buy the water pitchers and mugs every day. Sohni too lost her heart to Izzat Baig. Instead of returning to Bukhara with his caravan, Izzat Baig took up a job of a servant in the house of Tulla. He would take their buffalos for grazing and he came to be known as Mahiwal (buffalo herder). He wanted to marry Sohni but it was not acceptable to her parents and community that she would marry an outsider.
Sohni’s parents immediately arranged her marriage with another potter. Izzat renounced the world and started living as a fakir on the banks of the Chenab river. He wanted to marry Sohni even after her marriage. In the dark of night, both of them would meet by the river. Sohni would come to meet him by swimming with the help of an inverted hard backed pitcher. Rumours of their meeting reached her in-laws. One day, Sohni’s sister-in-law removed the hard baked pitcher and replaced it with an unbacked one. That night when Sohni tried to cross the river with the help of the pitcher, it dissolved in the water and Sohni drowned. From the other side of the river, Mahiwal saw Sohni drowning and jumped into the river to save her and he also drowned as well.
Many movies have been made depicting the story of Sohni Mahiwal in India and Pakistan. Sobha Singh made a portrait of Sohni Mahiwal which became very popular.
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