Heer Ranjha Analysis

Chapter 1
Introduction
The eternal season of love arrived in the Indian subcontinent a few years before the arrival of the Mughals in India in the early 16th century. Some of the tale-tellers assert that it belongs to Behlol Lodhi’s era during the second half of the 15th century, but whichever era it belongs to, the timeless tale of Heer-Ranjha is told and heard with the same keenness today. Heer-Ranjha is one of the tales told in unison by the waters of the Chenab. For centuries, the Chenab River has been flowing through the soils of the Punjab,the land of five rivers, and its fast and furious waves have told tales of love and romance. This romance happened in the city of Jhang situated near the River Chenab. It is said that the river flowed

It was immortally recounted in Punjabi, popularly as Heer Waris Shah1 by Sufi poet Waris Shah (1722-1798). Waris Shah’s poetic version of the tale was translated into English by Charles Frederick Usborne (1874 –1919) as Waris Shah: The Adventures of Heer and Ranjha2.
Punjab was an area which on account of its natural and human resources, as well as its strategic location, played a crucial role in the political fortune of the sub-continent. Economically, trade and manufacture had developed in this area. Traders and administrators played an important role here because Punjab was placed at the juncture of important trade routes to Central Asia. As a result, the history of Punjab had been (and continues to be) witness to many storms interspersed with prosperous, peaceful interludes.
The tragic ending of Waris Shah 's Heer, when viewed in this social context, seems to tally with the air of pessimism in 18th century Punjab. It is also true that by the time Waris Shah was writing, European literature had become known in South Asia. The tragic trope, so well developed in European literature, may have influenced Waris Shah 's