Heer Waris Shah

Verse 40 - The Mullah blusters on

The Mullah continues to berate Ranjha, pompously declaring hisemlf to be a fount of knowledge about Islamic juriprudence. He claims that he guides the faithful to paradise on judgement day and sees fit to chastise those who do not conform to the Sharia. Once again Warish Shah uses the tyranny of the Mullah to lay bare the oppression of the arbiters of organized religion.

Verse 41 - Ranjha chides the Mullah

Unperturbed by the Mullah's diatribe, Ranjha continues to chide him. He mocks the Mullah for his greed, suggesting that he benefits from the death of his congregants, savoring the delicacies that are served at funerals. He accuses him of using the Sharia as a shield and masking the misdeeds of the wealthy and the powerful. Finally he reproaces the Mullah for his inhospitable behaviour; a mosque is supposed to be a sanctuary but the Mullah, instead of welcoming travelers, commands them to be on their way.

Verse 42 - The Mullah Relents

Stung by Ranjha's accusation of his being inhospitable, the Mullah relents and grudgingly allows Ranjha to spend the night at the mosque, cautioning him to leave at daybreak. He dismisses Ranjha's arguments as absurd and tries to hold his ground. Waris Shah laments the infestation of the houses of God by outwardly pious hypocrites who lack compassion.

Verse 43 - Ranjha arrives at the river

After leaving the mosque, Ranjha arrives at the banks of the River Chenab, across which lies Jhang Sial. Waris Shah paints an idyllic picture of the Punjab with birds chirping at dawn, young girls starting to churn milk and the sleepy eyed waking up for their morning ablutions. Ranjha sees a boat laden with baggage, alsmot ready to leave and he encounters Luddan the boatman. a man of impressive girth. Waris Shah's Heer is laced with humor and in a certain sense the whole Luddan chapter, which startes with this verse can be viewd as comic relief in the Shakespearean mold.

Verse 44 - Ranjha beseeches the boatman

Ranjha addresses Luddan the boatman and begs that he be allowed to board his boat, which will take him across the Chenab river.

Verse 45 - The Boatman's rude reply

Luddan the boatman declares that only those who pay in cash or kind will be allowed on his boat. Ranjha, a strong young man is cautioned that if he attempts to board the boat by force, he will be cast into the river and drowned mid stream. Luddan says that he does not cater to entertainers, mendicants and freeloaders, displaying the caste prejudices of his times, when Dums or bards were vilified as low caste underrables!

Verse 46 - Ranjha lights a fire

Rebuffed by the boatman, Ranjha retreats to the river bank and starts to play a plaintive melody on his flute and soon a crowd gathers around him. Luddan the boatman's two comely wives are greatly moved by Ranjha's music and they approach him too, massaging his limbs to comfort him. Luddan is furious and calls out to his wives, wailing that the handsome young lad has seduced his wives and intends to elope with them.

Verse 47 - The boatman Luddan's state

The apoplectic Luddan creates such a ruckus that a perturbed Ranjha gathers up his belongings and gets ready to swim across the Chenab. Luddan's wives, alarmed at the danger that comely young man is about to put himself in, take pity on him and declare that when such a stranger is encountered, one is obliged to be hospitable to him.

Verse 48 - The boatman's wives

Greatly enamored of the handsome lad, and alarmed at the prospect of his jumping into the deep Chenab, Luddan the boatmen's wives bessech Ranjha, askign him to abandon his foolhardy plan. 

Verse 49 - Luddan's wives bring Ranjha to the boat

Luddan's wives grab Ranjha by the arms and bring him to their husband's boat, where he is shown to a luxurious bed, which is reserved for Heer, the daughter of Chuchak, the chief of the Sial tribe. Heer is known to be a beauty with a tempestuous temperament. In this verse, replete with Biblical and Quranic references, Ranjha's being brought to the boat is compared to Adam's re-entry into the Garden of Eden after his fall. Here Waris Shah is staking out his position on Adam's fall being blamed on Eve, for his Adam, Ranjha, rather than being led to his doom by a woman, is restored to the garden, respresnted by Heer's opulent chamber and bed, by women. More metaphors follow as Ranjha's boarding the boat is compared to the fallen angel Azazeel's dream of being readmited into Paradise. Azazeel, in the Quranic context, was the name of Iblis or Satan before his fall and his dream is used as a metaphor for Ranjha's spiritual progress which has been set into motion through the act of leaving home. Reviled as a wastrel, a dandy and a womanizer by his sisters-in-law, it is telling that the start of Ranjha's transformation is facilitated by Luddan's wives, women, who can see somethign in him that the world yet cannot. As Ranjha is being takento the boat, wading through the water, his immersion in the river is presented as a metaphor for his spiritual purification. The promised prize is existence on a higher spiritual plane, epitomized by the haughty Heer's bed.