The love story of Heer has been narrated by as many as 42 different poets. No other epic in world literature is known to have achieved this distinction. Among the surviving versions of the story, Damodar's Heer is probably the oldest.
The gifted poet has left little behind about himself except repeated chants such as 'name Damodar, caste Gulhati' in the mesmerising tale, which has been the subject of numerous movies and stage plays over the decades on either side of the Pakistan-India divide. The storyline, characters, tribes and places have almost been the same in every telling with minor changes. For instance, Waris Shah names Heer's mother as Malki but Damodar calls her Kundi.
Researchers could barely unearth scant details about the writer of this variant of Heer such as that he was a Sikh named Damodar Das Arora, a resident of Jhang, where Heer's grave is still venerated as a shrine.
His claim that the legend took place during the reign of Emperor Akbar and that he saw it unfold before his own eyes is dismissed by critics as nothing more than poetic fancy.
Among other things, they say, the vocabulary he has used reveals that he lived sometime in the late 18th century or early 19th century. Damodar and his work were virtually unknown till 1927 when the first of his three manuscripts of Heer was discovered in Jhang.
Though the W'aris Shah version of Heer has eclipsed all other narrations, and hence not much read and appreciated, Heer Damodar is distinctly remarkable in certain ways.
'Damodar's Heer is written like a fast-paced screenplay. There are no pauses or descriptive flights of imagination. The tale moves with great speed. Damodar includes an immense amount of his knowledge of human nature and of the issues of the society of rural Punjab into the tale and its characters', says Muzaffar Ghaffar in his preface to the book.
He adds that Shah 'is a master storyteller who always keeps the reader's interest alive. Indeed his Heer should have become a great favourite of professional storytellers, but it is virtually unknown in the oral tradition. And yet there appears to be extraneous material in the three manuscripts which are available. Such corruptions usually only occur with much-told, orally transmitted tales. This is another enigma about Heer Damodar.'
In other books for the Within Reach series, Muzaffar Ghaffar has reproduced Bulleh Shah (two volumes), Baba Fareed Ganjshakar, Baba Nanak, Sachal Sarmast, Sultan Bahu, Khwaja Ghulam Fareed and Shah Husain, (three volumes).
Even a single volume on Khwaja Ghulam Fareed in Urdu fetched a scholar a Pride of Performance Award during the Musharraf regime. The writer — I withhold his name lest I seem to be slighting his contribution to Punjabi language and literature — deserved the award, but I believe that each of Muzaffar sahib's books merits as much recognition.
What does he have in these books of the Punjabi Sufi poetry that is rare? He has taken a vast selection of each of the great masters' works first in Nastaliq and done its poetic translation in Gurmukhi.
With these books he has particularly tried to reach English-reading lovers of Punjabi classic poetry across the world by rendering the original in Romanised script, translating it into English verse (line for line), explaining the meanings of difficult words and then discussing the verses in lucid language. To make the reader's job easier still, he gives an elaborate glossary at the end of each volume. Only a random quote form Heer Damodar will illustrate the point
'The allure comes now. Heer Syal has grown up. Her beauty and demeanour are both affirmed by telling us that her feet don't touch the ground. (In this phrase the word zamin is usually pronounced zimin). She skims on the ground with grace and beauty, she is almost in flight.'
This description may be preparing us for 'haughtiness in Heer. Such nonchalance of being oblivious to her surroundings is surely the result of an irrefutable selfknowledge that she is beautiful. (And beauty has its own power). The poet masterfully gives a grounding in her deportment by telling us that her feet did not touch the ground. This is so for good reason, not just an innate arrogance...'
Muzaffar's interest in Punjabi Sufi poetry seems to be increasing with his growing age and failing health. His last book Shah Husain was in three volumes. The book under review has four, the whole of Heer Damodar.
His next venture, Heer Waris Shah, which is being given final touches, will have six volumes. One hopes that the process will continue and what might become extinct in the original text will come alive in these excellent translations.
Heer Damodar Within Reach
(Four volumes)
(folklore)
By Muzaffar A. Ghaffaar
ISBN 978-969-0-02173-1
Ferozsons, Lahore
Boxed set Rs3,995
