Princess Moomal and Soomal saw their father Raja Nand’ s intense grief over the loss of their royal treasure and consoled him , “ dear father don’t grieve over the loss as Soomal by her necromantic knowledge has found that our treasures have been stolen by a magician. We promise you that we shall get our treasure back by enticing the magician.” Raja Nand heaved a deep sigh and sadly said, “Alas! What you two will do to entice the roaming magician, I wonder!” Moomal and Soomal said, “father, allow us freedom to do what we want to do. We have hatched a vertible plan by which we shall collect more treasure than what we have lost.”
Raja Nand of Mirpur Mathelo State, had no other go but to agree to their proposal reluctantly.
Both Princesses prepared for a journey to a place named Ludano, near about Jesalmir where a stream of water named Nai Kak was flowing. Here, with their slender means they built a small palace and named it Kak palace. In front of the palace in a large area, a maze was built and after it, the waters of the stream were diverted to uneven heights, to fall with a great deafening roar, looking very dangerous to cross, for fear of being drowned. Beyond this dangerous stream, in the woods, wild, ferocious animals were installed which let out blood curdling roars and howls, which created fear of being killed. Inside the palace, in the entrance hall, Princess Soomal placed seven beds out of which six beds were hollow with ditches below, full of sharp irons to kill the person who sits and falls in when the beds collapse.
When all this was completed, a call was sent out far and wide, to all Princes, wealthy men and merchants, to come to Kak palace and try their luck to reach the most beautiful Princess Moomal and who so ever succeeds, she will marry him.
After this call, many Princes, wealthy men and merchants, came to kak, loaded with gifts and bounties to marry the Princess Moomal . Outside the gate entrance of the wall surrounding the area, a big drum was placed and when a suitor beat the drum, Princess Soomal’s maid Natir appeared at the gate and enquired about his name and the wealth he had brought with him for Princess Moomal. Then she went back and informed the Princesses about it. After the permission granted, Princess Moomal will come to the balcony of the palace to show herself to the suitor. Natir, then went to the gate, lead the suitor, through the Maze and at some place she cleverly vanished.
So, some suitors, were deprived of their wealth, lost in the Maze, some lost courage at the roaring waters of the stream, some caught the fright of the ferocious animals and some who reached the palace and fell into the ditches, were deprived of their wealth by Princess Soomal’s men. In no time, lots of treasures were accumulated and sent to Raja Nand by his daughters.
One day King Hamir Soomro of Sindh, with his three minsters, Dunver Bhatti, Senhero Dhamachani and Rano Mendho were hunting for deer in the woods, when they saw a hermit approaching them. After exchange of greetings, they enquired from him about his forlorn condition. He told them that he was a very rich man and he had set out to marry the most beautiful Princess Moomal at Kak and when he saw the Princess, he lost his senses and in spite of his best efforts, he could not reach her Palace and marry her. He was deprived of the valuable gifts; he had brought for the Princess, by her men and was thrown out of the Palace walls. His love and passion for the Princess has reduced him to this condition.
The king and his minister were surprised and became curios to see the Princess. Therefore, they started, on a journey of about two hundred miles from Umerkot to Luhano in Mirpur Mathelo. When they reached Kak, they camped outside the Kak Palace. First of all the King Hamir Soomro beat the drum and met Natir. She was told to announce the King’s arrival to Princess Moomal. She ran back to the Palace and informed the Princesses about the King and his companions. She was directed to welcome them and should see that no harm comes to them and are treated with due honour.
Natir went to the gate, welcomed the King and lead him through the maze and as usual, at some point she vanished. The King roamed about the lanes of the maze many times to find the way to the Palace but every time he ended at the entrance gate. The King’s ministers, Dunver Bhatti and Senhiro Dhamachani then tried their luck but failed to reach the Palace. When Natir came to lead the last minister Rano Mendhro, she was struck by his handsome appearance and gait. She led him through the maze and tried to escape but Rano grabbed her and led her to the roaring waters. He stopped and being suspicious, he dipped his cane in the water and found it shallow. With Natir he crossed the waters, saw the roaring and howling ferocious animal and found that these were dummies mechanically operated to create fear. He now came to the Palace, entered the hall and found seven beds ready to sit. He thought why the seven beds! So, he pressed his cane on the first one and it collapsed in the ditch below. And so did the five others. The sixth bed, he found it solid, he sat on it and ordered Natir to go and bring Princess Moomal.
When Princess Moomal with Princess Soomal and her entourage came, and saw the handsome Rano, she instantly fell in love with him and same thing happened to Rano Mendho.
Rano Mendhro sent a messenger to inform the King and his companions about his success. They were pleased and jealous at the same time an awaited his return. After two three days when he came to them, he was welcomed, but King Hamir requested him that he wanted to meet the Princess Moomal. Therefore, he was invited to the Palace. When he saw the beauty and grace of Moomal, he became intensely jealous of Mendhro and ordered him to return to Umerkot immediately.
After some time, when Rano Mendhro reurnted to Umekot and met the King , he was arrested and put into the Prison.
Days went by and when Rano did not return to Kak, Moomal became forlorn and lamented for her beloved. For Princess Soomal, her grief became unbearable, so to console Moomal, she dressed herself with Rano Mendhro’s dress and used sleep with Moomal at night.
Rano Mendhro’s sister,who was one of the queens of King Hamir Soomro, pleaded with the king for her brother and got him released from the Prison, with promise that he will not go to meet the Princess Moomal. Rano Mendhro had a very fast running she camel, so he lost no time to reach Kak at night to meet his beloved Moomal. He entered the Palace, went into the bedroom, he saw that his beloved Moomal was sleeping with a man. He curbed his anger at Moomal’s fraility, left his cane at the bedside, left the Palace and returned to Umerkot. He was very hurt and heartbroken and decided never to go to Kak again.
When in the morning Moomal and Soomal saw Rano’s cane by the bedside, they knew that Rano had come and saw them sleeping together, thinking that his Moomal was sleeping with a man. Thus, the destiny played its part, to separate the lovers from each other. It was a very tragic misunderstanding that came between the lovers. All the efforts made by Princess Moomal for Rano’s return to her, failed. Her grief and waiting for Rano was so great that she was emaciated and her beauty waned, but her hope sustained her. Days after days passed but Rano did not return to her. When she could not bear Rano’s separation, any more, she decided to end her life at the pyre.
On the other hand, Rano could not forget his beloved Moomal and his heart pined for her. When he heard about Moomal’s decision to end her life at the pyre, he relented, mounted his camel, reached Kak Palace and the lovers were united, never, never to separate again.
…………………….
Sources:
- Chronological Dictionary of Sindh by M.H.Panhwar. 1983.(http://panhwar.com/dictionary.htm)
- Tarekh-e-Registan(Part -1) by Raichand Harijan 2005.
- Rambling on.(http://deevan.blogspot.com/search?q=Moomal+Rano)
- Tarekh-e-Sindh by AllamaSyed Sulleman Nadvi. 1947(http://en.wikipedia.org/wki/Syed Sulleman Nadv ).
- The Salient Features of the Rule of Soomra Dynasty n Sindh Reasearch Articles by Research Scholar Qamar Din .M. Hayat Soomro (http://salientfeaturesofsoomrodynasty.blogspot.com/).
- Shah Jo Risalo/Moomal Rano………Fayaz Burio (http://wwwfayazburiro.com/shah/21.html)
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