The beautiful girl Sohni was born to a potter named Tulla In late Mughal period (Toolha). They were from the Kumhar caste, and lived in Gujrat it is in Pakistan now. At that time, Gujrat was on the bank of river
Chenab, on the route between Bukhara and Delhi.
Sohni used to help her father
decorate his pots.
Shahzada Izzat Baig, a rich trader from Bukhara (Uzbekistan), came to
Punjab on business and stayed in the town of Gujrat. Here he saw Sohni at the
shop and was completely attracted. of love. He started buying the water
pitchers and mugs everyday.
Sohni too lost her heart to Izzat Baig. Instead of making floral designs
on earthenware, she started building castles of love in her dreams. Instead of
returning to Bukhara with his caravan, Izzat Baig took up the job of a servant
in the house of Tulla,. He started taking even their buffaloes for grazing. Soon,was called "Mahiwal"
(buffalo herder).
When the people knew about the love of Sohni and Mahiwal, The Kumhar
community, considered themselves a high caste. It was not acceptable that a
daughter from this community would marry an outsider, so her parents
immediately arranged her marriage with another potter.
Suddenly, one day the "barat" (marriage party) of that potter
arrived at Sohini's house. Sohni felt helpless and lost. She was sent off to
the husband's house in a Doli .
Izzat Baig started living like a faqir (hermit). He eventually moved to
a small hut across the river from Sohni's new home. The earth of Sohni’s land
was like a holy place for him. He had forgotten his own land, his own people
and his world.
In the dark of night, when the world was fast asleep, the lovers used to
meet at the river bank. Sohni used to come by the riverside and Izzat used to
swim across to meet her.
One day Izzat Baig was so badly
wounded that he could not swim across. So Sohni started swimming across holding
onto an earthenware pitcher.
Meanwhile, rumours of their romance spread. One day Sohni’s
sister-in-law followed her and saw the hiding place where Sohni used to keep
her earthenware pitcher inside the bushes. The next day, the sister-in-law
removed the hard baked pitcher and replaced it with an unbaked 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 and drowned as well.
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