Verse 57 - Heer’s dazzling beauty

In one of the most evocative verses in poetry that I have ever encountered, Waris Shah paints a dazzling picture of his heroine. Laden with metaphors, the verse decribes not only Heer’s physical beauty, but also her nature and her temperament. Her lips are decribed as rubies and her chin as an apple form exotic lands and then, white unexpectedly her nose is likened to the point of Imam Hussain’s sword! This is telling because Hussain was one of the greatest warriors in the Islamic tradition and the poet is connecting his legendary valor to his heroine. The similies are exquisite and invoke the glory of nature – tresses like fierce balck cobras, pearl white teeth, magnolia leaves. She is as tall as a cypress that proudly stands in paradise and has a graceful crane like neck. Her fingers are slender like the pods of a legume and her arms look as if they heve been rolled with butter. Waris Shah then goes on to describe intimate details of Heer’s anatomy. One might wonder why such an intimate description is necessary in what is a spiritual text! I certainly did when I first encountered it, but then I pondered the descriptions of physical beauty that I have encountered in other spiritual texts, including Gurbani, and came to the conclusion that the poet is essentially paying homage to the beauty of the Divine with his words.

Heer is described as a fairy queen, akin to the legendary beauties of yore like Sita and Panj Phul Rani form the legend of Raja Rup Chander, and the consort of the Hindu god Indra. And then Heer’s personality begins to emerge in a torrent of visual metaphors that seize our attention. When she exuberantly roams around with her band of friends, she evokes a furious host readying for battle, or a herd of deer that joyously burst out of the jungle, prancing and gamboling. She is carefree and haughty, and while she mey be as beautiful as a Russian marionette, she is utterly unattainable. So passionate is her being that the poet likens Heer and her band to a host of Qizilbash, legendary Turkish born warriors who served in the legions of Nadir Shah, rampaging through a town.

And ultimately, Waris Shah says, this young girl, who is the epitome of beauty, grace and valor, from whose being divine melodies emanate, is irresitable.  No matter what his hapless hero, Ranjha wagers in the game of love, he is destined to lose.