Rabia and Baktash: Love between a princess and a slave

Rabia, known as Rabia Balkhi, was the daughter of Kaab, king of Balkh, Sistan, Kandahar and Bost provinces, probably around 950 AD. Rabia is considered to be the first persian woman poet and a contemporary of the great persian poet, Rudaki, who lived in khorasan (now known as Afghanistan).

However, the story of Rabia is the tale of a faithful woman caught in a tragic triangle between her kind father, her cruel brother and her lover.

Rabia was kaab's only daughter. Rabia was said to be very beautiful with a petite figure and a lovely voice. She spoke with extraordinary talent. Her inspiring poetry the heart of everyone. Her father was especially attached to her and constantly thought about her future. Realizing her unusual talent, he called her "Zain-ul-Arab" (the beauty of Arab).

When Kaab was on his deathbed, he summoned his son, Haris and entrusted his beloved daughter to him, saying, "Many princes have asked me for Rabia's hand in marriage but no one is worthy of her. If you find someone worthy, do what you think is best to make her life happy."

Haris accepted his father's words and then succeeded his father as king. He loved his sister very much and she became dearer to him than his own life.

But destiny played another game. One day Haris hosted a big feast in honor of having succeeded to his father's throne. The feast was held in one of Balkh's beautiful, fertile gardens.

The surroundings were exquisite; lush green lawns, dazzling, colorful flowers and a quiet, fresh stream flowing among the trees and flowers. The King's throne was placed on a high balcony.

King Haris sat on the throne with such radiance, as though he was the sun himself. Elders and courtiers saluted and congratulated the king. Everyone was enjoying the party. Servants and slaves glided around the royal throne like jewels, graciously serving all the guests. Among all the servants was one unique young man, Valiant and unusually attractive. He shone like the moon among the stars. Everyone admired his looks. He was the guardian for the king's treasure, a special and mist trustworthy servant of the king. His name was Baktash.

When Rabia heard about the feast, she climbed on to the palace roof to watch the event. As she observed all that was going on, her eyes suddenly fell on Baktash who was standing near the king, always at the King's service. Sometimes he served the king, his face glowing with beauty, some times he played the Rubab, singing like a nightingale. When Rabia saw the attractive young man, a spark of love ignited in her heart. She fell helplessly in love with him. From the on, her nights knew no sleep and her days no comfort. A storm of of thoughts and longing overcame her. She we profusely and her heart melted like a candle.

After an year of intense sorrow and grief, she grew faint and became bedridden. Her brother called for the royal physicians to treat her but all was in vain.

Rabia had a special maid as her confidant. She was not only kind and compassionate, but also very clever and intelligent. With her wit, she was able to convince Rabia to reveal her secret. Rabia poured out her heart to her, telling her everything about her love for Baktash.

Rabia asked her maid to approach Baktash and let him know of her heartache. But he must not disclose this secret to anyone else. Rabia also wrote a letter to her beloved. She also sketched a portrait of herself in the letter and sent it off.

And so finally, the maid informed Baktash of everything. When Baktash saw the letter along with the beautiful sketch of Rabia, he was overcame by such passionate love for her it was as if he had known her for years. He burned in love for Rabia though he had never seen her

Baktash responded to Rabia's letter with his own message of love when her maid told Rabia that Baktash also showed strong affection, she was delighted and tears of joy welled up in her eyes. From then on, poetry flowed from her pen day and night. She sent them to her beloved and Baktash grew more passionately in love with her as he read her poems.

O night breeze! Take my message to my beloved

Tell that gracious one to take me and my heart

Time passed, but their love story remained secret. Then, one day Baktash recognized Rabia and immediately fell at her feet. But instead of responding with empathy and warmth, Rabia reacted to him coldly. She was very upset at his flippant behavior. She rebuked him, dismissing him without any talk of love.

Baktash was devastated. What did all those letters of love meant if she was treating him like this? He said, "My dear, what is this?you are driving me mad with your wonderful poems of love and now you reject me as if I'm a stranger?".

Rabia replied, "You do not understand my secret and do not know of the flame that burns inside me, engulfs my senses and turns my life into ash. It is so precious and is nothing to be compared with physical love. My sorrowful body does not desire the earthy lust and carnal pleasure. It is enough for you to be the subject of my burning love and the confidant of my secrets. Don't touch me or you would be kept away from me like a stranger."

Rabia went on her way, leaving the slave even more in love after he heard her words. Rabia continued writing passionate poetry for Baktash, in this way expressing her intense emotions.

Rabia's brother Haris because a powerful dictator and ruler. Being both her brother and an autocrat, he made some plans for her sister's future.

One day Rabia was walking around in her garden and reciting her poetry. The subject was Baktash. Suddenly she noticed that her brother was listening to her so she changed the subject and the name, but her brother suspected his sister had a secret he didn't know.

About a month later, enemy troops invaded Haris's domain. Haris gathered his armed men and attacked the invaders with ferocity. Baktash courageously fought beside the ruler with a sword in each if his hands. But unfortunately, Baktash suffered a stabbing injury in his head. The enemy was about to capture him as their hostage when suddenly a sword-wielding rider, whose face and body were covered, dashed upon the scene.

The rider slashed his way through the battle field, beheading numerous troops until reaching Baktash who lay wounded in the ground. The rider heaved the injured Baktash on the horse and carried him to the safety. Then in an instant, the rider disappeared. No one recognized who this brave rider was.

This brave fighter was none other than Rabia. She risked her life to save Baktash. But when she disappeared, the enemy troops flew into a rage. Like a massive wave, they hurled themselves against the balkh troops. Haris' troops were about to suffer a tragic defeat when the king of Bukhara and his troops rushed to their aid and rescued Balkh. Had the Bukhara army not joined the Balkh army, no one would've survived. After defeating his enemy, Haris returned to Balkh as a conqueror. He ordered that the brave rider whose face had been covered should be found and brought to him. His messengers looked everywhere but they found no trace of her.

That night, Rabia was very worried of Baktash's injury. In her heart she longed for him. Not able to sleep, she sent him a letter. The letter was like a balm of relief for Baktash as he wept with joy. After a few days, Baktash recovered completely.

One day Rabia happened to meet Rudaki, the renowned poet if that era. As they discussed some of their poetry with each other, Rudaki was amazed at her incredible talent in poetry. He asked her about her poems and who it was about. Rudaki was the third person to know of her sorrowful love story.

One day, Rudaki approached the king of Bukhara, the one who had helped Haris in the battle. If so happened that Haris entered the Bukhara court that very day to express his gratitude for the King's timely arrival.

A royal feast was held in the court. Poets and Other officials were present too. The king asked Rudaki to recite his poetry. Since he bad learned some of Rabia's poems, he recited these as well.

As the party grew livelier, the king became fascinated with these new poems and inquired who had penned them down. Rudaki, now drunk with excitement and unaware of Haris' presence, revealed Rabia's secret love with Baktash, explaining that these poems belongs to kaabs daughter, who is in love with her brother's servant that she can't sleep and eat. "She does nothing but write charming love poetry to her lover and send them to him secretly."

Hearing of his sister's love affair, Haris pretended that he had not heard anything. But when he returned to Balkh, he was enraged and looked for a way to shed her blood and wash away this shame.

Baktash had a friend who turned out to be a traitor. He discovered Baktash's secret love and exposed it. He found the letters and took all of them to the king. In rage, Haris immediately ordered that Rabia be killed. First, he had Baktash thrown into a pit and then he set out to have Rabia put to death.

He ordered that she be taken to a bathhouse. They were to cut the veins of her hands and lock the door securely. Behind the closed door, Rabia wept. Her heart burned with sorrow. Slowly, the blood drained from her body and spread over the floor. She dipped her finger in her blood and write her final poem of love on the wall.

As the walls got covered with her blood, her body grew pale. Just as the wall had no more room for more poetry, no blood was left in her body. The wall overflowed with her poetry as she dried up as a lifeless shell.

The next day when the servants opened the door of the bathhouse, they found Rabia's lifeless body covered with blood. They washed her and buried her.

Some Time later, Baktash managed to escape from his prison. One night he raided Haris' bedroom and killed the ruler. Then he dashed to Rabia's grave and put an end to his own life with a dagger in his belly.