Verse 54 - Of Ranjha and Heer's bed

Waris Shah is suggesting here that Ranjha, after having cavorted all night on Heer’s special couch on the boat, feels regret in the morning. In Waris Shah’s epic, the flute playing cowherd, Ranjha often seems to invoke Lord Krishna. There is an implication here that on the beautiful coverlet of Heer’s couch Ranjha indulged in the Rasa, the cosmic dance of Lord Krishna with the Gopis, the milkmaids of the Braj region. Ranjha plays the flute and on the couch, according to the poet, he ‘made the exclusive commonplace’, which imparts a rebellious slant to the protagonist.  Self-exiled, landless and poor, he has no social status, yet he aspires to lie on the imperious Heer’s luxurious bed. The cavorting, presumably with Luddan’s wives, reinforces Ranjha’s image of virility, his insousciance and his tendancy towards self indulgence, which is going to change profoundly as he progresses on his spiritual path. Just as Heer is posed to enter the story, Waris Shah, in this verse, emphasizes the personality of his male protagonist at this stage of the tale. Waris Shah’s allusion to the despoiling of Heer’s couch is also telling; it is a foreshadowing of the tragedy that is going to befall his heroine. The reference to Ranjha as ‘Jatt’, in this context, peasant, again emphasizes the social distance that separates Heer and Ranjha and underscores the challenges that lie ahead for the lovers to be.