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| Sindhi folklore لوڪ ڪهاڻيون |
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Umar Marvi or Marui (Sindhi: عمر مارئي) is a story of a village girl Marui who resists the overtures of a powerful King and the temptation to live in the palace as a queen,and prefers to be in simple rural environment with her own village folk.[1]
The story also appears in Shah Jo Risalo and forms part of seven popular tragic romances from Sindh. The other six tales are Sassui Punhun, Sohni Mehar, Lilan Chanesar, Noori Jam Tamachi, Sorath Rai Diyach and Momal Rano commonly known as Seven heroines (Sindhi: ست سورميون ) of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai.
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Marui (Sindhi: مارئي) ,a beautiful village maid of Khaur ,Tharparkar,Sindh wasbetrothed to khet(Sindhi: کيت)whose rival Phoag(Sindhi: ڦوڳ)went to the court of King Umar SoomroSindhi: عمر سومرو at Umarkot,and spoke of the beauty of Marui in such a glowing terms that the King himseld rode out to the village and brought marui to Umerkote where he persuaded her to give her consent to marry him.Marui refused.The King tried his best to make her understand that she would be the queen living in the palace,and that she could have golden ornaments,silken apparel,tasteful dishes,fruit of all the kind,maidservants and everything else she wanted.To these offers,Marui would always reply that she preferred the hamlet of poor with sand dunes around to the palace and the gardens;coarse clothes and loee headwear(made of coarse woolen thread);the loaf of bread made out of grass seed to the rich dishes;chibhar,golara and other wild fruit to the mangoes and pomegranates.so far as the golden ornaments are concerned:
It is not the custom of maru folk
To exchange kith and kin for gold
Now Umar was a just King and he did not want to force his will on Marui. In the meanwhile,witnesses affirmed that marui was, in fact, related to umar as sister.Umar believed this,bestowed all the favour on marui,and sent her back honourbly to her village folk,where she joined Khet and lived happily among her folk kins at village.
In those days Sindh was ruled by Umar Soomro, whose capital was Umarkot, now in Pakistan. He was known for his justice. He had only one weakness: he loved beautiful women. His palace was full of beautiful damsels from all parts of Sindh. Phoag left Malir and went to Umarkot to seek his fortune. He managed to secure employment under Umar. He soon won Umar's confidence and was put to work managing matters relating to women. One day he told Umar about the most beautiful woman in Sindh. Curious, the Umar asked, "Who is she?" Phog replied, "Her name is Marvi."
Umar Marui story was recreated in the form of a television series transcribing the story of Marvi in a more modern setting, where Marvi is depicted as a Sindhi village girl who is educated and wants to go to the city for further education. Marvi's best friend, with whom she dorms in the city, has a brother named Umar who falls in love with her and make proposal to her. Upon Marvi's refusal to marry him he consults his friend, a rich land owner in Marvi's village. The two devise a plan to abduct Marvi and keep her at Umar Soommro's mansion. Marvi somehow manages to escape from the place, but her return, is not welcoming for her village folks who questions her chastity. Marvi's friend, who is aware of her brother's acts, consults a journalist and a lawyer to have her brother arrested for kidnapping. During the trial, Marvi has to face all kinds of questions about her piety and chastity, but finally Umar stands up in the courtroom and admits his guilt and describing Marvi as a woman of great character.