Suhni Mehar or Sohni Mahiwal (Punjabi: , Urdu/Punjabi: ) and

(Sindhi: ) is a tragic love story which reverts the classical motif of Hero and
Leander:here,the heroine Sohni,unhappily married to a man whom she despises,swims
every night to the island where her beloved Mehar grazes buffaloes.One night her sister-inlaw replaces the jar, which she uses as a sort of swimming vest,by a vessel of unbacked
clay,and she dies in the whirling waves of the river.[1]
The story also appears in Shah Jo Risalo and forms part of seven popular tragic romances
from Sindh. The other six tales are Umar Marui, Sassui Punhun, Lilan Chanesar, Noori Jam
Tamachi, Sorath Rai Diyach and Momal Rano commonly known as Seven heroines (Sindhi:
''' )''' of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai.
Shah begins the story in the most dramatic moment,when a young woman cries out for help
in the cold river, attacked by crocodiles.The whole chapter (Sur Sohni)is merely extension of
this dreadful and yet hoped for moment,when the vessel of her body breaks and she,faithful
to her pre-eternal love-covenant wit Mehar,will be forever united with the friend through
death.
Sohni is one of the favourite folktales both in Sindh and Punjab.[2]

Story
Potter's daughter
Around the 18th c. (late Mughal period), the beautiful girl Sohni was born to a potter named
Tulla (Toolha). They were from the Kumhar caste, and lived in Gujrat town (in present-day
Pakistan). At the time, Gujrat, on the river Chenab, was a caravanserai on the trade route
between Bukhara and Delhi.
As Sohni grew up, she helped her father decorate his pots. Their shop is said to have been
near Rampyari Mahal by the river.[3] As soon as the Surahis (water-pitchers) and mugs came
off the wheel, she would draw artistic designs on them and set them up for sale.

Izzat Baig of Bukhara

Shahzada Izzat Baig, a rich trader from Bukhara (Uzbekistan), came to Punjab on business
and halted in the town of Gujrat. Here he saw Sohni at the shop and was completely
smitten. The song goes that instead of looking after the 'mohars' (gold coins) in his pockets,
he roamed around with his pocket full of love. Just to get a glimpse of Sohni, he would end
up buying the water pitchers and mugs everyday.
Sohni too lost her heart to Izzat Baig. Instead of making floral designs on earthenware, she
started building castles of love in her dreams. Instead of returning to Bukhara with his
caravan, the noble-born Izzat Baig took up the job of a servant in the house of Tulla, Sohni's
father. He would even take their buffaloes for grazing. Soon, he came to be known as Mehar
or "Mahiwal" (buffalo herder).

Sohni's marriage

When the people got to know about the love of Sohni and Mahiwal, there was a commotion
within the Kumhar community, who consider themselves a high caste. It was not acceptable
that a daughter from this community would marry an outsider, so her parents immediately
arranged her marriage with another potter.
Suddenly, one day the "barat" (marriage party) of that potter arrived at Sohini's house.
Sohni felt helpless and lost. She was sent off to the husband's house in a Doli (palanquin).
Izzat Baig renounced the world and started living like a faqir (hermit). He eventually moved
to a small hut across the river from Sohni's new home. The earth of Sohnis land was like a
shrine for him. He had forgotten his own land, his own people and his world.
In the dark of night, when the world was fast asleep, the lovers would meet by the river.
Sohni would come by the riverside and Izzat would swim across to meet her. He would
regularly roast a fish and bring it for her. It is said that once, when due to high tide he could
not catch a fish, Mahiwal cut a piece of his thigh and roasted it. Seeing the bandage on his
thigh, Sohni opened it, saw the wound and cried.

Tragic end
The next day, Izzat Baig was so badly wounded that he could not swim across. So Sohni
started swimming across holding onto an earthenware pitcher.
Meanwhile, rumours of their romantic rendezvous spread. One day Sohnis sister-in-law
followed her and saw the hiding place where Sohni used to keep her earthenware pitcher
inside the bushes. The next day, the sister-in-law removed the hard baked pitcher and
replaced it with an unbaked one. That night, when Sohni tried to cross the river with the
help of the pitcher, it dissolved in the water and Sohni drowned. From the other side of the
river, Mahiwal saw Sohni drowning and jumped into the river and drowned as well.Thus their
union was effected.

Tomb of Sohni
Legends has it, that the bodies of Sohni and Mahiwal were recovered from the River Indus
near Shahdadpur, Sindh, some 75 km far from Hyderabad, Pakistan. Sohni's tomb is said to
be located in the said city.

In popular culture
The story of Sohni and Mahiwal was popularized in the Punjabi poet Fazal Shah Sayyad's
qissa (long poem), Sohni Mahiwal. Though Fazal Shah composed other poems on Heer
Ranjha, Laila Majnu and others,Sohni Mahiwal "has been considered his best". [4] The Sohni
Mahiwal love story continues to inspire numerous other songs in modern day Pakistan,
including Pathanay Khan's famous song Sohni Gharay nu akhadi aj mainu yaar milaa
ghadeya. Alam Lohar has also made many renditions of this kalaam and was one of the first
singers to bring this in a song format.

Many paintings of Sohni Mahiwal continue to be executed, attracting also well-known artists
such as Sobha Singh.[5] Folk versions of these paintings, for example in the Kangra style,
are commonly found across both Punjabs in Pakistan and India.
Two Bollywood film versions, named Sohni Mahiwal have been made:

in 1958 starring Bharat Bhushan and Nimmi,

in 1984 starring Sunny Deol and Poonam Dhillon.[6]