Mirza Sahiban is a traditional Punjabi tragedy originally written by the 17th-century poet Pilu. Set in a village in Jhang, the tragedy follows the romance between two youths, belonging to chieftain families of their respective clans, their elopement and eventual demise. It is regarded as one of the four popular tragic romances of the Punjab. The other three are Heer Ranjha, Sohni Mahiwal and Sassi Punnun.

Synopsis

The story was written by Pilu, a poet who lived during 16th century in Punjab. Mirza and Sahiban were lovers who lived in Khewa, a town in the Jhang District which was Sahiban's ancestral village. Mirza was the son of Banjal, a Kharal Jatt chief of Danabad while Sahiban was the daughter of Khiva Khan, a Sial Jatt chief. Both Mirza and Sahiban ran away to marry against Sahiban's parents' wishes. While eloping Mirza stopped under a jand tree, where he rested for a while and fell asleep. Sahiban did not want to begin her new life through her brothers' bloodshed. She decided to break all the arrows of Mirza thinking she will beg her brothers for their acceptance so that nobody would get hurt. When Sahiban's brothers reached near them, Mirza woke up but discovered that his arrows were broken, and was killed by Sahiban's brothers. Sahiban could not bear this loss and chose to end her own life by stabbing herself with an arrow.

Adaptations

There have been various film interpretations of the folk tale: