Timeless Tales Of Love That Ended in Tragedy

Love makes the world go round, they say. Yet others say that the heart has its reasons, the mind knows not of. Some legends transcend time and are universally celebrated. For lovers across the world, they are an ideal to aspire to. The love stories of Laila-Majnun, Shireen-Farhad and Heer-Ranjha are among such timeless tales of love. They have been immortalised in poetry and fiction and have been romanticised for centuries.

Laila-Majnun

The 7th century story of Laila and Majnun is a tragic tale of unconsummated love revolving around Qais Ibn Al-Mulawah and Laila. The great Persian poet Nizami, made it a part of his Panj Ganj in Faarsi.

In the popular story, Qais and Laila fall in love at a very tender age, but Laila‘s father refuses to lend his consent to the idea and marries her off to a wealthy merchant. The news of her marriage drives Qais into a state of total madness (junoon). Hence, the epithet, Majnun--one who is possessed (by junoon, madness).Laila, derived from 'lail'(night in Arabic), is seen in popular imagination as a dark-complexioned beloved of the love-struck Majnun. Their love remains unconsummated and is a popular motif in Persian and Urdu literature, especially in the ghazal form. Laila-Majnun has also been a great source of inspiration for film makers, novelists and playwrights.

Shireen-Farhad

Shirin-Farhad is another popular ancient love tale which resonates through literary works in Persian and Urdu, through the centuries, beginning with Nizami, the legendary Persian poet, in the 12th century.

The tragic love story is woven around Khusro, a Persian prince who becomes besotted with Shirin, an Armenian princess. The narrative goes through a series of twists and turns, the most popular one involving a triangle. Farhad is madly in love with Shirin, and the princess too reciprocates his love. Khusro sets Farhad a near-impossible task of carving a stream of milk through a mountain after having learnt of his fabled exploit as a sculptor of stone. Farhad goes about accomplishing this insurmountable task earnestly and manages to achieve the mission impossible. However, Khusro, deceives him getting Farhad to believe that Shirin is dead. A despondent Farhad kills himself with his stone-cutter's tools. In popular lore, as well as literary texts, the Shirin Farhad love story is romanticized as one of ideal love.

Heer-Ranjha

Another popular timeless, tragic love story is Punjab's folk legend--Heer Ranjha. Warish Shah lent a poetic form to the popular love tale, which revolves around a wealthy village girl, Heer and her lover Ranjha, known for his prowess on the flute. In the popular version Ranjha leaves home after a quarrel with his brothers over land and is assigned the task of sheperding cattle, by Heer's affluent father. Heer is entranced by Ranjha's melodious flute and falls in love with him.

Their love story however, is tragically cut short by Heer's jealous uncle Kaido, who compels her to marry another man. In most versions of the romance, both meet after a series of twists and turns, only to die--Heer's food is poisoned and when Ranjha learns of this, he eats some too, and dies.