The immortal love story between Sohni and Mahiwal has been treated in a most royal manner in the Batik painting. The sense of colour pattern and the method of dewaxing have added beauty to the painting. About Sohni Mahiwal-Sohni was the daughter of a potter named Tula, who lived in Punjab near the banks of the Chenab River. As soon as the Surahis (water pitchers) and mugs came off the wheels, she would draw floral designs on them and transform them into masterpieces of art. Izzat Biag, a rich trader from Balakh Bukhara, came to Hindustan for doing business. But when he saw the beautiful Sohni he was completely enchanted. He would end up buying the water pitchers and mugs everyday just to get a glimpse of Sohni. Sohni also fell in his love and soon started building castles of love in her dreams. Izzat Baig sent off his companions to Balakh Bukhara and started working as a servant in the house of Tula, the potter. Soon he was known as Mahiwal (cowherd). However, the society didn’t approve of their love. Her parents arranged her marriage with another potter. Sohni was helpless and in a poignant state. Her parents bundled her off in the doli (palanquin), but they could not pack off her love in any doli (box). Izzat Baig renounced the world and started living like a fakir (hermit) in a small hut across the river. He had forgotten his own land, his own people and his world. Taking refuge in the darkness of the night when the world was fast asleep Sohni would come by the riverside and Izzat Baig would swim across the river to meet her. He would regularly roast a fish and bring it for her. It is said that once due to high tide he could not catch fish, so he cut a piece of his thigh and roasted it. Seeing the bandage on his thigh, Sohni opened it, saw the wound and cried. From the next day Sohni started swimming across the river with the help of an earthen pitcher as Izzat Baig was so badly wounded, he could not swim across the river. Soon spread the rumours of their romantic rendezvous. One-day Sohni’s sister-in-law followed her and saw the hiding place where Sohni used to keep her earthen pitcher among the bushes. The next day her sister-in-law removed the hard baked pitcher and replaced it with an unbaked one. At night when Sohni tried to cross the river with the help of the pitcher, it dissolved in the water and Sohni was drowned. From the other side of the river Mahiwal saw Sohni drowning and jumped into the river. This was Sohni’s courage, which every woman of Punjab has recognized, applauded in songs: "Sohni was drowned, but her soul still swims in water..."The true, immortal love story has been crystallized in the Batik painting and it is a paradigm of love and beauty.
Description
The immortal love story between Sohni and Mahiwal has been treated in a most royal manner in the Batik painting. The sense of colour pattern and the method of dewaxing have added beauty to the painting. About Sohni Mahiwal-Sohni was the daughter of a potter named Tula, who lived in Punjab near the banks of the Chenab River. As soon as the Surahis (water pitchers) and mugs came off the wheels, she would draw floral designs on them and transform them into masterpieces of art. Izzat Biag, a rich trader from Balakh Bukhara, came to Hindustan for doing business. But when he saw the beautiful Sohni he was completely enchanted. He would end up buying the water pitchers and mugs everyday just to get a glimpse of Sohni. Sohni also fell in his love and soon started building castles of love in her dreams. Izzat Baig sent off his companions to Balakh Bukhara and started working as a servant in the house of Tula, the potter. Soon he was known as Mahiwal (cowherd). However, the society didn’t approve of their love. Her parents arranged her marriage with another potter. Sohni was helpless and in a poignant state. Her parents bundled her off in the doli (palanquin), but they could not pack off her love in any doli (box). Izzat Baig renounced the world and started living like a fakir (hermit) in a small hut across the river. He had forgotten his own land, his own people and his world. Taking refuge in the darkness of the night when the world was fast asleep Sohni would come by the riverside and Izzat Baig would swim across the river to meet her. He would regularly roast a fish and bring it for her. It is said that once due to high tide he could not catch fish, so he cut a piece of his thigh and roasted it. Seeing the bandage on his thigh, Sohni opened it, saw the wound and cried. From the next day Sohni started swimming across the river with the help of an earthen pitcher as Izzat Baig was so badly wounded, he could not swim across the river. Soon spread the rumours of their romantic rendezvous. One-day Sohni’s sister-in-law followed her and saw the hiding place where Sohni used to keep her earthen pitcher among the bushes. The next day her sister-in-law removed the hard baked pitcher and replaced it with an unbaked one. At night when Sohni tried to cross the river with the help of the pitcher, it dissolved in the water and Sohni was drowned. From the other side of the river Mahiwal saw Sohni drowning and jumped into the river. This was Sohni’s courage, which every woman of Punjab has recognized, applauded in songs: "Sohni was drowned, but her soul still swims in water..."The true, immortal love story has been crystallized in the Batik painting and it is a paradigm of love and beauty.
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