Leela and Chanesar, set in Liore or Lihore, Lower Sindh, during the Samma period is about two women. Kaunro, the daughter of a wise, brave king ‘Khanger.’ As expected of royalty, Kaunro expresses her arrogance and pride with a marriage proposal.
Taking on the challenge to ensnare Chanesar, the most handsome and rich person, possessed of pomp, power, and a vast kingdom. But Chanesar already had a wife, Leela, who he loved. She had also fallen in love with him at first sight.
Leela is wise, intelligent, and understanding, but she loses her husband as a result of her greed for the diamond necklace of Kaunro. Her love for jewelry is used as a symbol of greed for riches. Contrarily, Kaunro’s consistency is proven by her desire to win Chanesar’s heart.
Both women are depicted as opposite characters. One loses all of her wealth to secure her love while the other loses her love by falling for riches. The symbolism of repent is remorse is unmistakable.
The Persian version was penned in the Chanesar Nameh by the poet-historian Idraki Beglariunder, in 1601.
Circumstantial evidence tends to show that Chanesar was a Samma chief, some villages in the district of Hyderabad still have a presence of the Dassro sub-clan of the Sammas.
Lilan Chanesar has also been put down beautifully by the Sindhi Sufi poet, Shah Latif Bhittai.
Some argue that the figurative poet depicts Chanesar as God and Leela as someone who left God for this world.
Regardless, it is one of the most famous seven tragic romances of Sindhi literature, where a queen lost her husband for a necklace, and the king lost himself for the slightest glimpse of his former queen.
The other stories include Umar Marvi, Momal Rano, Sohni Mehar, Noori Jam Tamachi, Sassui Punhun and Sorath Rai Diyach, all of which are a part of what is considered to be Bhittai’s magnum opus, Shah Jo Risalo.
