‘Ashiq, bhor, faqir tay kutay’

In Heer Ranjha, the popular tragic romance of Punjab, Ranjha leaves his worldly belongings behind and sets off to join his lover Heer. He tries to spend the night at a mosque near the river he must cross in order to get to her, but is thrown out by the mullah, who tells him that lovers, bees, beggars and dogs (ashiq, bhor, faqir tay kutay) are not allowed there. Ranjha tries to get the boatsman Luddon to take him across the river, but he is again refused as he has no money. Ranjha then plays his flute, and at its sound Luddon's wives refuse to leave without him. Waris Shah's version of this tale of spiritual pleasures and the rejection of worldly acceptability ends in tragedy when both Heer and Ranjha die at the hands of a society that will not allow them their happiness.  

In this painting by Sabir Nazar, whose work appeared on Himal's December 2006 cover, one figure of Ranjha walks away from the mosque, his flute under his arm and his hands in his pockets, followed by a brown dog. Neither seems to mind being placed in the same undesirable category as they turn their backs on the building, symbolic of conventional morality and social hierarchy. In the doorway of the mosque the mullah stands disapprovingly. Painted as the building's façade in dull pastels of beige and blue, the frowning man is indistinguishable from the intolerant institution he has built.