Following the Footprints of Beloved: The Depicted Romance of Sasui‐Punhun in the Kalhora Tombs in Sindh, Pakistan Zulfiqar Ali Kalhoro 1 1 . Department of Development Studies, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Islamabad, Pakistan (Email: zulfi04@hotmail.com) Received: 29 August 2015; Accepted: 20 September 2015; Revised: 14 October 2015 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 3 (2015): 538‐550 Abstract: Sasuiʹs journey to search for Punhun into the vast expanse of the Balochistan desert denotes her separation from the Indus lands ‐ her precious belonging ‐ and thus becomes a metaphor for the impact of two separations: from love and belonging. Thus, folk romances were used as a method of imparting mystical education. They were also used by Qadi Qadan (d. 1551), Abdul Karim of Bulri (1635‐1623) and Mian Shah Inayat (d. circa 1700) amongst other Sufi saints. However, I will discuss in this paper how the folk tale of Sasui‐Punhun captured the imagination of painters who painted different episodes of the story in the various tombs erected during the Kalhora period (1680‐1783) in upper and central Sindh. Moreover, prior to discussing the paintings, I will briefly describe the folktale of Sasui‐ Punhun. Keywords: Sasui‐Punhun, Kalhora Tombs, Sindh, Pakistan, Love, Romance, Folktale Introduction Conflict, remorse, tragedy, belonging, and death amplify a complex and textural symbolic reference from where multiple discourses of love emerge. These discourses, in comparison to Western folktale, are contextualized by social control typified by a complex matrix of love bounded by race, clan and kinship and valorized by emotionality, sacrifice and purity, love as a challenge to socially structured morality, as a rift between personalized vs. familial choice, as a dramatic climax and eventually as a tragedy. Tragic climax to the folktale plots of Sasui‐Punhun, Mirza‐Sahiban, Laila‐ Majnun, Sohni‐Mahinval, and Hir‐Ranjha, circulated through orally conveyed narrative poems and/or written genre of qissah, is symbolical of eternal love signifying love as a connection of souls transcending bodily/physical connection. This perception is in many ways antithetical to the models and frameworks of political economy of love which hinges on feigned romance and commoditized sexualities (Cohen 1982; Cole 2009; Cole and Thomas 2009). Also, it differs from the sacralized expressions of love depicted in Muslim theology and poetry which staunchly advocate