| Heer Ranjha ہیر رانجھا ਹੀਰ ਰਾਂਝਾ | |
|---|---|
 Painting by Shafqat Jilani (c. 1930) depicting Ranjha (playing his flute) and Heer | |
| Folk tale | |
| Name | Heer Ranjha ہیر رانجھا ਹੀਰ ਰਾਂਝਾ |
| Mythology | Punjabi folklore |
| Region | Punjab |
| Origin Date | Late 15th century (traditionally)[1] |
| Related | |
| This article is part of the series |
| Punjabi folklore ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ਲੋਕਧਾਰਾ • پنجابی لوک ریت |
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Heer Ranjha[a] (Punjabi:[ɦiɾɾaːnd͡ʒ(ʱ)aː]) is a classicalPunjabi folktragedy with many historic poetic narrations;[2] the first one was penned byDamodar Gulati in 1600s, based on a preexisting oral legend; and the most famous one,Heer, written byWaris Shah in 1766, in the form of anepic. Set inTakht Hazara andTilla Jogian, it follows the story of love, forced separation, and eventual simultaneous demise of two youths in thePunjabi countryside.[3]
It is one of the four popular tragic romances of thePunjab. The other three areMirza Sahiban,Sohni Mahiwal andSassi Punnun.[4][5][6][7][8]
Heer Ranjha has been written by a number of poets. The earliest known Punjabi version was composed byDamodar Gulati in the early 17th century during the reign ofAkbar. According to Radha Kapuria, Gulati penned his version of the tale in 1605.[9] He claimed to be its eyewitness, likely as a poetic trope. However, the tale itself had been well known in Punjab for centuries and Damodar was not the first one to narrate it. His contemporariesShah Hussain (1538 – 1599) andBhai Gurdas (1551 – 1636) both have alluded to it in theirkafis andvars, respectively. The most well-known version is that of Waris Shah, re-narrated in 1766, in which he stated that the story has a deeper meaning, referring to the unrelenting quest that man has towards God.[10] Mansaram Munshi produced a version of Heer Ranjha in the form of an illustrated manuscript in 1744.[9] Damodar himself dates the events narrated to 1472 CE.[1]
The earliest known Persian version of Hīr was written between 1575 and 1579 by aTajik poet Hayat Jan Baqi Kolabi. By the time of Waris Shah there were nine versions of Hīr extant in Persian, including among others, that ofMita Chenabi (1698) andAfarin Lahori (1730).[11] About twenty renditions of Hīr in Persian are known.[12] Earliest versions in Hindi (Braj) were narrated by Hari Das Haria (c. 1520s–50s), a member of Sikh Panth community, and Gang Bhatt (c. 1580s–90s), who was associated with the court of Akbar, and wrote a versesamvād in 1565.[13] There are over fifty renditions in Punjabi itself, other than that of Damodar and Waris Shah, fromHafiz Barkhurdar Ranjha,Fazal Shah Sayyad andAhmad Yar.
Heer (Izzat Bibi) is an extremely beautiful woman, born into a wealthy family belonging to theSial clan of Jats,[14] while Dheedo Ranjha, who is from theRanjha clan ofJats,[15] is the youngest of four brothers and lives in the village ofTakht Hazara by theChenab river in ruralPunjab.[16][17] Being his father's favourite son, unlike his brothers who have to toil in the lands, he leads a life of ease, playing the flute ('Wanjhli'/'Bansuri'). After the death of Ranjha's father, Mauju Chaudhry, Ranjha has a quarrel with his brothers over land, and leaves his home. InWaris Shah's version of the epic, Ranjha leaves home because his brothers' wives refused to serve him food.
Eventually he arrives in Heer's village and falls in love with her. Heer's father offers Ranjha a job of herding his cattle. Ranjha, routinely, plays his flute in the fields after work and Heer becomes mesmerized by it and eventually falls in love with him. They meet each other secretly for several years until they are caught by Heer's envious uncle, Kaido, and her parents Chuchak and Malki. Heer is forced by her family and the local priest (Maulvi) to marry another man named Saida Khera, belonging to theKhera clan.[3]
Ranjha is left heartbroken. He wanders the countryside alone, until he eventually meets aJogi (ascetic). After meetingGorakhnath, the legendary founder of theKanphata (pierced ear) sect of Jogis atTilla Jogian ("Hill of Ascetics"), Ranjha becomes a jogi himself, piercing his ears and renouncing the material world. While reciting the name of the Lord, he wanders all over Punjab, eventually finding the village where Heer now lives.
The two return to Heer's village, where Heer's parents agree to their marriage – though some versions of the tale state that the parents' agreement is only a deception. On the wedding day, Kaido, Heer's uncle, poisons her food in order to punish the girl for her behaviour. Hearing this news, Ranjha rushes to aid Heer, but is too late, as she has already eaten the poison-laced food and has died. Brokenhearted once again, Ranjha eats the remaining poisoned food and dies by her side.
Heer and Ranjha are buried in Heer's hometown,Jhang. Love-smitten couples and others often pay visit to their mausoleum.[3][18][19]
Heer Ranjha is part of theQissa genre of tragic love stories, along with tales such asLaila Majnu andSassui Punnhun.[20]
Because its plot involves a romance opposed by family members and ends with the two lovers dying, the story is often compared to theShakespeare playRomeo and Juliet.[21][22]
The epic poem has been made into several feature films and television adaptations since 1928:[23]
| Title and year of release | Type | Actors | Production Details and Music Composition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heer Ranjha (1928)[23] | Film | Zubeida as Heer, Shehzadi, Jani Babu | Fatma Begum, Victoria Fatma Co./FCo |
| Heer Sundari (1928)[24] | Film | Janibabu, Nirasha,Master Vithal | Anand Prasad Kapoor, Sharda Film Co. |
| Heer Ranjha (Hoor-e-Punjab) (1929)[23] | Film | Salochna as Heer,Dinshaw Bilimoria as Ranjha, Jamshedji, Neelum, M. Ismail as Kaidu,Abdul Rashid Kardar as Saeda Kherra | Hakim Ram Parasad (Producer), Pesi Karani & R. S. Chaudhry (Directors), Imperial Film Company, Bombay |
| Heer Ranjha (1931)[24] | Film | Master Faqira as Ranjha, Shanta Kumari as Heer | J. P. Advani, Karishna Tone |
| Heer Ranjha (1932)[24] | Film | Rafiq Ghaznavi as Ranjha, Anwari Bai as Heer | Abdul Rashid Kardar, Hakim Ram Parasad at Lahore. Music byRafiq Ghaznavi |
| Heer Syal (1938)[24] | Film | Eiden Bai, Haider Bandi, M. Ismail,Noor Jehan | Krishna Dev Mehra |
| Heer Ranjha (1948)[24] | Film | Mumtaz Shanti as Heer, Ghulam Mohammed as Ranjha | Wali Sahib. Music by Aziz Khan |
| Heer (1955) | Film | Swaran Lata as Heer,Inayat Hussain Bhatti as Ranjha | Nazir at Lahore. Music by Hazin Qadri, Safdar Hussain. |
| Heer (1956)[24] | Film | Nutan as Heer,Pradeep Kumar as Ranjha | Hameed Butt. Music: Majrooh Sultanpuri, lyricist, and Anil Biswas, composer |
| Heer Syal (1960)[24] | Film | Shanti Prakash Bakshi | |
| Heer Sial (1962) | Film | Bahar Begum as Heer,Sudhir as Ranjha | |
| Heer Sial (1965) | Film | Firdaus as Heer,Akmal Khan as Ranjha | Jafar Bukhari at Lahore. Music byTanvir Naqvi,Bakhshi–Wazir. |
| Heer Ranjha (1970)[23] | Film | Firdaus as Heer,Ejaz Durrani as Ranjha | Masood Pervez at Lahore. Music byAhmad Rahi,Khurshid Anwar |
| Heer Raanjha (1970)[23] | Film | Priya Rajvansh as Heer,Raaj Kumar as Ranjha | Chetan Anand. Music byKaifi Azmi,Madan Mohan |
| Sayyed Waris Shah (1980)[24] | Film | Urmila Bhatt, Ajit Singh Deol, Koushalya Devi, Prema Kumari | Music by Ganpat Rao |
| Aaj Di Heer (1983)[24] | Film | Tina Ghai,Satish Kaul,Mehar Mittal,Om Shivpuri | Raj Oberoi. Music by B. N. Bali |
| Heer Ranjha (1992)[23] | Film | Sridevi as Heer,Anil Kapoor as Ranjha | Harmesh Malhotra. Music byAnand Bakshi,Laxmikant Pyarelal |
| Waris Shah: Ishq Daa Waaris (2006) | Film | Gurdas Maan,Juhi Chawla,Sushant Singh,Divya Dutta | Manoj Punj,Manjeet Maan (Sai Productions). Music byJaidev Kumar |
| Heer Ranjha: A True Love Story (2009) | Film | Neeru Bajwa as Heer,Harbhajan Mann as Ranjha | Ksshitij Chaudhary and Harjit Singh. Music byBabu Singh Mann, Gurmeet Singh |
| Heer Ranjha (2013) | TV series | Produced forPTV Home. | Directed by Shahid Zahoor; produced byYousuf Salahuddin |
| Heer Ranjha (2020)[25] | TV series | Amaninder Pal Singh and Sara Gurpal. Produced forZee Punjabi. |
"Ranjha"[26] (2001) by British musician Bally Jagpal from his album "Untruly Yours" is a retelling of the Heer Ranjha story.
"Jogi"[27] (2003) by British musicianPanjabi MC, featuring vocals by various Pakistani singers, including the classical/traditional artistGhulam Ali, references the tale of Heer and Ranjha.
UstadhNusrat Fateh Ali Khan mentions Heer in his QawwaliKhooni Akhiyan alongsideSassui(-Punnhun), andSohni (-Mahiwal); the folk lovers become parables for the seeker’s relationship with God — showing that true love is total, dangerous, and often fatal, but also the only path to union.
"Ranjha"[28] by Rupesh Kumar Ram from the movieQueen references the story.
"Ranjha Ranjha"[29] byRekha Bhardwaj andJaved Ali from the movieRaavan references the story.
"Dariya" from the movieBaar Baar Dekho references the story.
Tamasha (2015) mentions their love story and includes a song starting with Heer's name.
Kuldeep Manak sings about the tale in his 2007 songRanjha Jogi Hoya.[30]
"Khaireyan De Naal"[31] (2008) fromShafqat Amanat Ali's debut solo album,Tabeer, tells the tale of Heer Ranjha.
"Heer"[32] (2012) is a song from the 2012 Hindi filmJab Tak Hai Jaan.
"Heeriye" (2018) is a song from the 2018 Hindi filmRace 3.
"Heer Ranjha" (2020) is a song and video from Indian YouTuberBhuvan Bam wrote and sang, and has garnered more than 10 million views.
"Ranjha" (2023) by Raf Saperra is a song from the perspective of Heer longing for Ranjha's return after she is married and he has become a jogi.
Numerous variants ofHir Ranjha exist not only in Panjabi, but also in Sindhi, Persian, and Balochi...
There are five major folk romances [in Punjabi literature],Heer Ranjha,Sassi Punnu,Sohni Mahinwal,Mirza Sahiban,Puran Bhagat. Of theseHeer Ranjha is the most popular romance...
Heer and Ranjha, and Mirza and Sahiban belonged to the Jat caste.
Qissa in Arabic merely means "story," but in the Indian subcontinent it came to mean specifically a "verse-narrative telling the tragic story of two young people who love each other beyond discretion." Well-known examples of this genre areLaila-Majnu,Heer-Ranjha,Sassi-Punno,Soni-Mahiwal, andYusuf-Zulekha (written roughly between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries)