In the year 1355-56 A.D., Umar Soomro-II became the king of Sindh. The capital of his empire was Umarkot in the Thar Desert of Sindh. At that time, it was a prosperous area, rich in agriculture, arts and crafts. It was during this period that the following historical romance took place.
The two men alighted from their camels. Their lower half of the face was covered with their turban end. They approached the girls standing at the water well. The girls seeing them coming, ran towards the village afraid that the strangers might not molest them. However, two girls were brave enough to remain at the well, thinking that maybe the wayfarers wanted a drink of water. When the strangers came close, one of them removed the turban end from his face. The girls observed that he was a handsome man, though clad in ordinary clothes, he had a royal bearing. The other man pointed his finger at girls and said, “Sire, that one is Marui.” The handsome man came close and looked at the girl’s brilliant beauty and exclaimed, “Oh God! You have created an angle on earth!" Suddenly, he asked the girl, “O, beautiful damsel will you marry me?” The girl undauntedly replied, “No, I am already betrothed to my kinsman Khet Sen.”
The stranger, who had succumbed to her beauty, saw the stoic determination behind the girl’s words and lost all propriety, grabbed the girl and mounted her on his camel and rode off into the desert of Thar with his companion. The girl kept yelling for help and with her fists kept beating the rider, but all in vain.
The other girl leaving her water pitcher unfilled from the well ran fast to the village and told the people how the stranger had taken away Marui.
Marui’s father Palini accompanied by Khet Sen, other relatives and some people of the village, followed the footsteps of the camels. They walked through the desert and at last they sighted a Castle and found that the footsteps went in through the Castle gates. They went in and discreetly enquired about the camel riders from the people and were told that the camels had gone in the direction of the gates of the royal palace.
On the way to the palace, they met Phog, a farmer working in the lands of Palini and he said to Palini, “you had refused my offer to marry your daughter Marui, but now she is in the palace of the King Umar Soomro who will now marry her. Go back to your village quietly least harm may come to you from the King’s men.”
Marui’s father and the villagers did not argue with Phog and returned to the village. When all the villagers heard that The King Umar Soomro had taken Marui away, they were very much afraid and many thought it better to leave their village and seek a safer place to live.
So, Pogh had taken his revenge from Palini for refusing his offer to marry Marui to him. It was he who had come to Umerkot and when granted audience with King Umer Soomro, he had described the beauty of Marui so eloquently that the king was surprised, that such a jewel of a girl existed in his domain and that also near his Capital Umerkot. The King was curious to see the girl and warned Phog that if the girl’s beauty failed to impress him, he shall have to face the consequences. So at night they mounted the camels, reached Malir and brought Marui to Umerkot as narrated above.
Marui was given a royal bedchamber and the chambermaids were directed for her comfort in all respects.
Marui was very perturbed and kept wailing, for her parents and her people and for her village Malir. The king came every night with costly dresses rare jewels and implored Marui to accept the gifts and consent to marry him as now this palace was her only home. Marui neither accepted the dresses nor the jewels but remained in her dress with her coarse loee (shawl) covering her head saying, “I will not dishonor this loee as it was given to me by my parents.” She kept telling King Umer Soomro, “O! Umer I belong to my parents, my betrothed Khet Sen and my people and will not disgrace myself by accepting your fineries”.
Time fled and Marui remained adamant in refusing to marry the King. The king became very angry and put her into prison in shackles. Even in Prison Marui pined for Malir and her Maroos and kept praying to God and Umer for her release from Prison and for her return to Malir.
At last, King Umer relented that he had done a great injustice to Marui by holding her against her will. He acted immediately and told Marui that he is sending his messenger to her parents to come and take her home. She was released from prison and brought to the Palace.
Her parents though afraid, came, were met with due honour and Marui was handed over to them. But they were admonished to see that no harm comes to her.
Thus, Marui reached Malir and her Maroos. But her betrothed was suspicious thinking as to how she could be chaste after remaining with the King for nearly a year. Consequently, he, the villagers, and the village girls kept a distance from her. This hurt Mari very much.
When the King heard about it, he came with his guards who surrounded the village and called for the village elders to settle the matter. He told the villagers on oath that Marui was as chaste as she was on the day he had taken her away. But if they still don’t believe him, he will undergo any test to defend his honour. Here Marui came out before the King and told him that it was her honour at stake so she will take the test. All present agreed to this and a ‘fire walk’ was proposed to prove her chastity.
Wood was collected and ignited and the fire roared. When all wood was burned and the burning red-hot coals appeared, Marui was asked to walk over the coals from one end to the other. She prayed to God and quietly walked over the coals from one side to the other. Praise be to God, neither burn marks were found on her feet nor her clothes took fire. Thus, she was absolved. The King Umer Soomro also followed her through the fire to absolve himself and he also remained unscathed.
Great celebration took place after which the King Umar Soomro returned to Umerkot.
Sources:
- Chronological Dictionary of Sindh by M.H. Panhwar. 1983. (http://panhwar.com/dictionary.htm)
- “Tareekh-e-Sindh (History of Sindh). By Allama Syed Sulleman Nadvi. 1947. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syed_Sulaiman_Nadvi)
- “Salient Features of the Rule of Soomra Dynasty in Sindh”. Research Articles (Queen Zainab Tari/Golden period of Sindhi women/Renaissance etc.) by Research Scholar Qamar Din. M. Hayat Soomro. 2009. (http://salientfeaturesofsoomrodynasty.blogspot.com/)
- Shah Abdul Latif's Patriotism in the characters of Umar and Marvi (http://www.bukisa.com/articles/73922_shah-abdul-latifs-patriotism-in-the-characters-of-umar-and-marvi)
- Umar and Marvi (http://www.nbseminary.com/archives/umar-and-marvi)
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