Dhon Hiyala and Alifulhu: a true love story

The story of Dhon hiyala and Ali Fulhu is Maldives’ equivalent of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but the legend of their tragic love is shrouded in mystery, and many Maldivians still ask whether it was just another folk story, or whether it was a true story. The answer, with regard to the most recent available research is that, though the love story may have taken place, it may not be as melodramatic as the tale that is being told by our forefathers.

In short, at least certain elements of the story seem to be true. The islands, to which the characters in the tale are ascribed, still exist. Dhon hiyala’s father is from Shaviyani atoll Maroshi island, while her mother is from Baa atoll Dhonfan island. Her parents lived in Thaa atoll Buruni island, and Dhon hiyala was born there, too.

Even today, the places in Buruni island where much of the story takes place, are marked as historical places: the “Kamana beach,” and the fields of “Koamas,” “Heena,” and “Kunahaa.”

“Dhon hiyala and Ali Fulhu” have been made into a successful feature film, based on the book of the same name by Maldivian linguist Abdulla Sodiq.

DOOMED LOVE

Dhon hiyala (literally meaning “Fair Woman”) is described as a “Faiymini” girl (perhaps a word borrowed from India related to “padmini” which means “extremely beautiful”). She was the “perfect beauty” rarely born and hence prone to the “evil eye” and had to be protected from outsiders, leading to her mother Dhon Aisa and father Malima Moosa bringing her up in an underground cellar in their home.

However, their “secret” is discovered when Ali Fulhu (the Romeo in this story), who is in Dhaalu atoll Hulhudheli island, sees her in a dream. It was said that the “constellations conspired to bring Dhon hiyala and Ali Fulhu together” because “they were born at the same time.” Ali Fulhu then constructs a dhoni and embarks on a journey to Buruni island in search of Dhon hiyala.
After arriving in Buruni, Ali Fulhu constructs a house and sets up work. He secretly meets Dhon hiyala, they fall deeply in love, their love so strong that they are ready to die for each other. They secretly get married and start living together, but still only Ali Fulhu, Dhon hiyala’s parents, and the “Foolhuma” who delivered Dhon hiyala know of Dhon hiyala’s existence.

But Ali Fulhu is not the only one to dream of Dhon hiyala. Another Ali, “Fageeru Ali” from Shaviyani atoll Lhaimagu island, also dreams of her and comes to Buruni pretending to be a blind man to see the proof of existence of this perfectly beautiful woman. However, after he meets Dhon hiyala, his fake blindness is exposed, but he escapes from Buruni and comes to Male and informs the King that a perfect beauty has been born in Buruni. Fageeru Ali, the informant, is then taken into the King’s grace.

The King journeys to Buruni, gives Ali Fulhu over to the mob, and forcibly marries Dhon hiyala. In pronouncing the marriage of Dhon hiyala to the King, the magistrate in Buruni pronounces that “another man’s wife, on no legal grounds, is made the wife of the King” but the King does not mind because Dhon hiyala becomes his.

The King forcibly brings Dhon hiyala to Male. However, Ali Fulhu escapes from the mob, journeys to Male, and Dhon hiyala escapes from the palace on a Friday when the King is away at the mosque to attend the Friday prayers, and Dhon hiyala secretly journeys together with Ali Fulhu back to Buruni.

However, they find no escape when the King’s armada embarks on a high seas chase, and when Ali Fulhu is forced to land on a sandbar in the middle of the ocean in search of water for Dhon hiyala who is dying of thirst, the King overtakes them, and realizing that there is no hope for their love together in this world, the star-crossed lovers decide to end their lives, and jump onto a “maavaru” floating in the sea, where their bodies are cut into pieces. It is said that Dhon hiyala’s decapitated head and Ali Fulhu’s severed leg were washed ashore on Kaalhufushi island.

To date, a grave, where Dhon hiyala and Ali Fulhu are said to be buried, is marked in Thaa atoll Kandoodhoo island. It is said that Dhon hiyala and Ali Fulhu met their deaths in 1442 AD, about half a century before Columbus discovered the Americas.

Perhaps for this reason, tourists arriving in Maldives have expressed interest in visiting the islands on which the Dhon hiyala and Ali Fulhu drama took place: Buruni, Maroshi, Dhonfan, Kandoodhoo, Hulhudheli, and Lhaimagu. Hence, the story of Dhon hiyala and Ali Fulhu has potential to market “cultural tourism” in Maldives, according to tourism experts.

Historians are more in favor of describing the story of Dhon hiyala and Ali Fulhu as a legend or part of the folklore of Maldives. Hence, they claim that only the essentials of the story are true while much of the melodrama and tragedy associated with the doomed couple were “spices” added by later generations to make the story more melodramatic. But they say that there is no harm in one enjoying such a story, as such folklores help to “revive interest in Maldives’ history, traditions and culture.”

(This article appeared in Haveeru Daily on 21 June 2003)