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A New
Rendering of The Legend
Karnal’s
audacious Kabal Virk is rewriting the legend of
‘Heer Ranjha’ in baint form
Dr. Jaspal Singh
 The
legend of Heer Ranjha is the most popular cultural narrative
of Punjabi ethnos. The events associated with this romance are
supposed to have occurred in the beginning of 16th century which
Damodar Gulati, a sensitive poet of medieval Punjab had
witnessed with his own eyes. The turbulent love story must have
created a turmoil in the traditional social order which Damodar
seems to have portrayed in his old age. Since this tale was
located in the Jhang region of west Punjab so the language
used by this eye witness is Jhangi (Multani) now called the
Lehndi dialect of Punjabi. Maybe because of linguistic
barrier this romance (qissa) could not be popular is rest of
Punjab.
Surprisingly
Ahmed Gujar and Mukbal also wrote about the romance
of ‘Heer Ranjha’ which became popular as they were put in a
more acceptable language understood in all over the Punjabi region.
The rhyme scheme of these narratives was also more palatable to the
Punjabi ear. But the most moving rendition of the some romance
appeared towards the end of 18th century when Waris Shah, the
greatest Punjabi poet restaged the old legend in central Punjabi
dialect. The rhyme scheme of Ahmad Gujar and Mukbal
was further refined and subsequently it was christened as baint.
Many folk poets (quissa kavis) took pride in the use of this
form. Scores of romances including many versions of Heer
appeared in this prosodic meter with some resilience here and there.
Now in the
beginning of 21st century an audacious young man Kabal Virk
from Karnal (Haryana) has stepped forward to do the legend of ‘Heer
Ranjha’ all over again in the same baint form perfected
by Waris Shah more than two centuries ago. Heer Waris
is a veritable compendium of the composite Punjabi culture. It is
also a store house of Punjabi lexicon which had not yet acquired a
classical form. Many later poets had tried to imitate Waris
but they could not reach anywhere near him. Both in form and content
Waris still remains unsurpassable. Therefore Kabal had to
face a great challenge. The standards set by Waris being
Kabal’s model, he had to make a gigantic intellectual effort to
achieve those norms. The young author must look like Waris
yet different from him. The narrative details are like those of
Waris but the poetic diction, metaphors and other figures of
speech are different. Kabal has brought in a number of modern
references, even the people like Marx, Lenin and Nelson Mandela
occur in some of the verses.
The storyline
has also been changed here and there. Some references from Sikh
history also appear. Mitthi Nain, a new character plays an
important role as a helper and she displays and extraordinary
knowledge about men and matters. The end of story is also different
from that of Waris. Kabal presents Heer Ranjha
before the king who adjudicates in a fair manner and Heer is
handed over to Ranjha as his legitimate bride. Both
Damodar and Ahmed send Heer and Ranjha to Mecca
for hajj, which Waris makes a tragic end of the story in
which both the lovers end their lives.
Kabal
does away with the intervention of ‘five wise men’ (Panj Peer)
as well since he believes that such supernatural forces are not
conducive to the spirit of modern age. In the story line Kabal
inadvertently refers to those things which had not been invented in
the 16th century which is the historical locale of the tale. The
names of many farming implements of the year and those of many forms
of sweets are added. Many references from the Quran, Guru
Granth Sahib, Purans, Upnishads and the great epics appear in
Kabal’s narrative. The author displays a deep understanding of
classical learning. Most of the cultural indicators have been
borrowed from Waris Shah. But an imprint of the present times
modifies them. There are places where the present poet seems to be
as good as Waris, though at most of the places he appears as
a drab imitator. Description of Heer’s beauty in Heer
Waris has no parallel in Punjabi literature. But Kabal’s
description is inhibited by the limitation of his imagination.
Similarly Waris portrayal of seasons and other natural phenomena is
far sensitive and colourful yet true to life. Kabal mainly
depends on bookish knowledge while for Waris life and nature
were the primary sources of knowledge and wisdom. In spite of all
these weaknesses Kabal’s attempt is a welcome addition to
Punjabi qissa kaav which has now been completely ignored for
last about half a century. The revival of an old form of literature
with a new idiom is in itself a rare achievement for which Kabal
deserves all praise.
16
April 2008
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