Shaleen Khan, the only son of the biggest landlord of the region, was sent away to study as a child and returned to his simple life in the village. He realized that the sicepy life of the viliage suited him better than the speed of his student days.
Shaheen Khan was not yet twenty years old when he saw Savera, a woman who had stopped to wash her pots and was thigh-deep in water. She spoke to him first, and she told him about her story. She was born as the sun rose and had been taken away from her home and parent’s love when she was fourteen. Savera’s father, Badshah, was a widower with two sons and a daughter. He vowed to marry her if she became his bride. When Badshah came to ask for her, his father thought he wanted her as a bride for his son who didn’t have a son. However, Badshah wanted her for himself and offered to take back his fields and house if he let him have her.
Shaheen Khan was enraged and refused to barter with him or trade his daughter for land or gold. Persecutions began, including a field fire, bullies, and a fire that killed his father. The village headman took a complaint, but nothing could be done to protect him. Shaheen Khan caught fire, and many saw him walking through the village with his clothes and flesh on fire. God’s hand was on his head, and he was a pious man. When he called on the Lord to help him, the Lord brought him home.
Savera is haunted by her father Badshah. She is afraid of her family and the consequences of her actions. She meets Shaheen, a powerful man from a region with a hundred villages, and they begin to meet.
Savera is a beautiful woman with a strong, funny nature, and she is drawn to Shaheen. They share a passionate bond, and she dreams of finding her husband and marrying him. However, her father threatens to send her away if she doesn’t leave her village forever. Shaheen’s father calls him to tell him about Badshah’s complaint for seducing his wife and threatens to send him to the army or flog him. Despite his protests, he promises to keep peace.
As they meet again, they are taken away by the rain and darkness. They leave their homes, and they say their goodbyes. They are apprehended by Badshah and his sons, who come with uniformed policemen from the nearest town. They try to fight, but Savera gives up first. They berate Shaheen, who had stolen his gun and was fully armed. Badshah’s band dragged Savera away, and it is revealed that the policemen were sent by Shaheen’s father. They shot his horse, handcuffed him, and drove him home. The story highlights the harsh realities faced by women in a remote village and the importance of maintaining a sense of community and justice.
Shaheen was brought home in handcuffs and punished by his father. He was warned that his wife, Savera, had been under her spell and that he would be flogged to death. His father, a scholar of ancient edicts, took a lash on him, causing him to bleed silently.
Shaheen’s father took him away in a straitjacket, and doctors from Lahore were present. He thought he was cured or over the worst, but he continued to dream about her. One night, she woke him up, and she was fragile and worn. She was beautiful, but his head was heavy with opiates. She laid down beside him, and he wanted her. She silenced him when he spoke but began to make love to him.
Two nights passed, and she returned to him. She asked him to stay with her or take her with him. She told him to call Badshah out in his name and set fire to his house. She promised to drug the food and water his sons took in the evening, and he would call for vou to call for vou.
The doctors had said Shaheen was cured, but nothing had changed. He was still ready to escape with her, as their world wouldn’t allow them to live together peacefully. On Saturday night, he managed to escape, and Badshah emerged from his homestead. Shaheen slapped him three times on the face before he stabbed him in the side. He set fire to his shirt and kerosene on the doorstep, leaving him screaming. The night fell as thick and heavy as tar, and Shaheen left in despair.
Shaheen walked to an abandoned temple in the darkness to avoid being recognized. He sat by a pomegranate tree, waiting for morning and his lover, Savera. Three men arrived on horseback, and he recognized the second son of Badshah. They had followed him to punish him for their father’s death. The third son returned with a gunnysack, and they smashed Savera’s hands and feet. The second son roared, and the elder son stabbed her with a knife. Shaheen’s lost voice came back, and he struggled to rise.
As he awoke, he couldn’t imagine what had happened to Savera. He found her dead, her corpse in a state of decay, and his waking dream had re-enacted the events of her death. He recognized her silver ornaments and talisman, and gathered her bones in his shawl. He scrubbed them clean, said prayers for the dead, and laid her polished bones to rest in the shade of the pomegranate tree.
Shaheen was found dead in a shrine, believed to be a sanctuary for the homeless and unprotected. The village blamed him for the burning of his homestead, as his sins were so great that people didn’t even object or pronounce the act a crime. Shaheen’s father, mortified and grief-stricken, put a bullet in his own temple. The villagers saw Shaheen as a wise man or holy fool, guarding the shrine as a sanctuary for the homeless and unprotected.
People from distant villages brought offerings of food, fruit, and flowers for the shrine, and Shaheen would trace mysterious signs in the dust. He would create mosaics of the spirit of a murdered princess, turning the earth around the shrine into a carnival of color. One day, the story of Savera was revealed, detailing her love for him, her husband’s murder, and her return to find her lover. Shaheen was locked up and drugged at the time, but they knew something wondrous had happened to him. He died at the age of seventy and was found lying on her grave. The story of Shaheen and Savera’s passionate love remains part of local memory, and it is sung as a ballad by singers and performed on radio and television.
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