Sorath Rai Diyach is a romantic folktale in Sindhi and Gujarati folklore. The story also appears in Shah Jo Risalo and forms part of seven popular tragic romances from Sindh. The other six tales are Umar Marvi, Sassui Punnhun, Sohni Mehar, Lilan Chanesar, Noori Jam Tamachi and Momal Rano commonly known as the Seven Queens of Sindh, or the Seven heroines of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai.
Sorath was the queen of King Rai Diyach alias of Raja Dhaj, Ror Kumar[1] of Girnar, Junagadh now in Gujarat who sacrificed herself for the sake of her love for husband. Diyach gave his head to wandering minstrel and followed him to the world of dead. Highly pleased with the songs of minstrel, Bijal, Diyach offered him to ask for anything he liked to have. As the intrigues of fate would have it, his son asked for his head. The kind and generous king gave it.
Now the song resounded in Sorath's head. She bid farewell to life and to the pain of separation from him.[2] [3]
Sur Sorath is one of 30 surs (chapters) of Shah Jo Risalo in that touching points of the well-known tale of Rai Diyach and Sorath are given. The contents of this Sur, section by section, are described below:
Rai Daich, an adaptation of the folk tale, is a 1958 Indian Sindhi film directed by J.B. Lulla and produced by Atu Lalwani. It was written by Ram Panjwani and starred Lalwani, Shanti Ramchandani and Bhudo Advani. The film's music, for which it is known, was composed by Bulo C. Rani.[4] Panjwani also wrote a play in Sindhi titled Bijal Rai Diyach.[5] Sati Sorath, an Indian Gujarati-language drama film based on the folktale released in 1978 starring Kamini Bhatia and Arvind Joshi.