Verse 90 - Chuchak's Wrath

Kaido’s allegations elicit an angry and dismissive response from Chuchak, whose family honor has been impugned. He roars that his daughter has been at play with her friends and has been spending her time at women’s gatherings. He then launches into a personal attack on Kaido, calling him a slanderer, mocking his accoutrements that proclaim his status as a holy man and declaring that he consorts with those at the fringes of respectable society. As his tirade continues, he expresses the prejudices of his class and caste, emphasizing that the low born can never aspire to high status. The poet waxes ironical at the end of the verse, observing that despite his huffing and puffing, Chuchak is after all a Jatt and that like others of ‘low caste’ origin, such as cobblers and oil pressers, the sons of Jatts cannot aspire to be holy men. Here he also questions the sincerity Ranjha’s future journey as a mendicant, despite having earlier signaled that Ranjha is on a spiritual journey and not merely on a quest to be one with his love.