Sheh Mureed
Sheh Mureed
Sheh Murid was the son of Sheh Mubarak, the chief of the Kahiri
tribe. At that time when a man was known for his arts, Mureed was
famous as having mastered the art of swordmanship, horsemanship,
and archery. For his skills and braveness he was ranked the highest in
the army of Mir Chakar Khan Rind, the chief of the Baloch army.
Mureed’s bow made of steel was so heavy that he was known as the
“Lord of the Iron Bow”, because none but he alone could draw and
shoot arrows from it.
Hani
Hani was the daughter of the Rind noble Mir Mandaw; some say
she was Murid’s cousin. Hani was a paragon of loyalty and devotion.
Everyone knew her for her good character and chastity. Hani was
engaged to Sheh Murid and had been a childhood friend of Murid.
Story
The legend is that one day when Mir Chakar and Sheh Murid
were returning from a day of hunting, they stopped at the town where
their fiancées lived. Since a Baloch woman never appears before her
betrothed before the wedding, Mir Chakar and Sheh Murid decide to
visit each others’ fiancées. Sheh Murid went to Mir Chakar’s fiancée,
who brought him clean water in a silver bowl. Murid, dying of thirst,
drank the entire bowl in a single gulp and became sick. However,
when Mir Chakar went to Hani, Sheh Murid’s fiancée, she brought him
clean water in a silver bowl in which she has placed dwarf palm leaf,
properly washed. The chief was surprised by the pieces of straw, but
he drank the water with care in order to avoid swallowing the straw.
When he departed he found Murid vomiting and sick. Murid told him
that the water had made him ill because he drank a lot of water on an
empty stomach. Now Mir Chakar realized that Hani had acted wisely by
putting pieces of straw into the water.
Some time later, Mir Chakar organized a gathering where poets
put forward poetry of heroes etc. At the height of the revelry Mir
Chakar asked the nobles to make vows on which they must pledge
their lives. Every chief at the gathering made a vow. Mir Jado swore
that he would chop off the head of anyone who touched his beard at
the assembly of nobles. Then Bibarg vowed that he would kill anyone
who kills Hadeh. He was followed by Mir Haibitan who vowed that if
anybody’s camel joined his camel-herd he would never give it back. At
last came the turn of Sheh Murid, who, was madly in love with hani,
pledged that if anyone asked for anything in his possession on his
wedding day, he would give it. Later on, Mir Chakar vowed that he
would never tell a lie for the rest of his life. he was was true to his
word he never in his life time after that found to have lied. Mir chakar
tested Mir Jado’s word by asking his his young son to touch his father's
beard during an assembley of nobles. the young boy innocently did as
he was told, mir jado turned his face and moved the boy hoping no
one noticed. however Mir Chakar encouraged the boy to repeat the
action. the boy grabbed his father's beard once more. the entire
assembley became silent and looked towards Mir jado will he be true
to his word? Full of wrath, Jado unsheathes his sword and smites the
head of his innocent son in the presence of all the Rind nobles. Mir
Chakar also tested Bibarg and Haibitan, finding them true to their
word. Now it was time to test Sheh Murid. Murid hosted a festive
gathering on his wedding and invited renowned poets to entertain the
audience. And at the close of the festivities, Sheh Murid, was ready to
depart with his possessions. Mir Chakar, asked for Hani. Sheh Murid
was shoicked he thought that he would have asked for his bow which
was a unique bow and he was a very good marksmen with a strong
bow.he was known as "The Lord Of The Iron Bow. With a heavy heart
and much sadness he told Mir chakar to take Hani. The unexpected
demand distressed him greatly, and Murid realized that he had lost
Hani. If he did not keep his vow he would be mocked and future
generations would have contempt for his name. Soon after the
annulment of Murid’s engagement with Hani, She was soon married to
Mir Chakar. But Murid was so shaken by this turn of events that he
abandoned his former life and passed the days and nights in worship
of Allah. He also composed poems eulogizing Hani’s beauty and openly
expressing his passionate love for her. The scandalous news of Murid’s
love for Mir Chakar’s wife became the talk of every household in
Balochistan. his father sheh mubarak tried to advise him, he compsed
a poem in baluchi of the advise and his father gave him and the
response to the advise. The poem in baluchi is as follows:
"mani shehey mubarak gwashee
bellow mureed gumraheeya,
gumraheeya be raheya
pa chaakare mahay janna.
pa dosti dosta e nahay
jaan ahay pashentagay,
hani sha kour-ka geptagay
zay chond-dilla cho beetagay.
man jawab tarentaga,
peeray pitto cho gwashtaga,
wati meeray pito cho gwashtaga,
shai abaee shai kabaee,
agay takay bibiten hat-tali
pahoukana hancho dost mani,
shalwaray bonday darr kutain
janay darre pakko kutain,
lenchan wati jattay,
hanga mano gah-bo-waton gah-be-waton"which can be trancelated as: "my shai mubark says,
oh mureed leave your aloofness,
aloofness without purpose direction(purpose),
for chakars beautiful wife,
in the assemblies you are not amongst your friends,
you are like a walking corpse,
hani's love has blinded you,
how will you carry on in this way,
i replied,
i advised my elderly father,
i advised my respected father,
oh most honoured father,
oh most esteemed,
if you were in my place likewise,
you would have left all your friends,
and stopped going to assemblies and noble gatherings,
you would have lost your mind,
and not be aware of how you dressed,
you would have clapped your hands,
on your lap and be,
in your own world,
at least i am sometimes with it
Departure and return
Sheh Murid then decided to leave the country and visit unknown
lands across the seas. He followed a group of mendicants going to
perform their pilgrimage at the holy cities of Mecca and Medina in
Arabia. As tradition has it, Sheh Murid remained in Arabia for 30 along
time during which time he truly became a mendicant and lived the life
of an ascetic.
After spending years away, he returned to Sibi in shabby clothes
with his hair hanging down to his waist. In the company of a band of
beggars he passed himself off as an anonymous mendicant begging for
alms at the palace of Mir Chakar Khan Rind. The maidservant gave
bowls filled with grain to each mendicant, but when she presented this
food to Murid, she saw that Murid’s eyes were fixed upon Hani. Hani
recognised him at once but held herself back as to not arise
suspicions, but Chakar saw a sparkle in her eyes.
Recognition of Sheh Murid
As a favorite pastime of the Chakarian age, the Rind nobles
gathered for an archery competition. During the contest, the nobles
noticed the curiosity and interest of Murid, the leader of beggars. At
first the Rind nobles treated him with a certain amount of disrespect
on account of his shabby appearance, laughing at him and asking how
a mendicant clad in tattered clothes could bend a bow and hit a target.
They gave him a bow and arrow. He bent the bow but it could not bear
the power of his arms and broke into pieces. They gave him another
one, which he also broke. After he broke the third bow the Rind nobles
grow a bit suspicious that he might be Sheh Murid. They sent someone
to fetch Murid Khan’s bow, which was made out of steel and was called
jug (yoke) because of its form and weight. The epic tells us that this
famous weapon had been tossed in a pen for sheep and goats after
the “master of the iron bow” had departed and it had no owner to care
for it. Because of its weight and toughness, it was useless in the hands
of anyone else. When it was turned over to him, Sheh Murid caressed
and kissed it, gently touching the strings as if they belonged to a
sacred instrument; he scrutinized every inch. Then, as a master
archer, he rolled up his beggar’s mantle, bent the bow with great skill,
and shot three arrows from it, passing one through the hole left by the
previous one. The Rind’s suspicion that this beggar was in fact Sheh
Murid was confirmed after the trial of the bow. The Rind nobles
stopped Murid and a servant was sent to ask Hani for Murid’s
distinguishing signs and marks, which she would know because they
had played together as children. Hani told of a sign on the upper left
thigh, which her bracelet had made, and another one behind the
eyebrow. When the Rinds checked the signs, they at last recognized
Sheh Murid.
Union and departure to unknown world
Although Mir Chakar married Hani, however he was unable to
consummate the marriage, Whenever he approached Hani, he would
freeze and be as if he was paralysed. For years he carried on this way
and realised that Hani can never truly be his. When he found out that
Sheh Murid had returned, he Told Hani that Sheh Murid was a great
man and deserved her, so he divorced her and told her she was free to
go to Sheh Murid. Hani, who had not forgotten her first and only love,
decided to go to him, she told him that Mir Chakar had realised his
mistake and has now freed her so that they (ie Sheh Murid& Hani)
could be together. But Sheh Murid told her that he had now reached a
different level and cannot step down from that level to take her she
was a means by which he had reached closer to Allah. He took leave of
her.. On the following day Murid visited his father’s camel herd, chose
a white she-camel, mounted her, and disappeared from mortal eyes.
He has become the immortal saint of the Baloch, and the common
belief among the Baloch is that: ta jahan ast, Sheh Murid ast (Until the
living world, Sheh Murid remains immortal.
__________________
Money won't buy happiness, but it will pay the salaries of a large research staff to study the problem.
|