Sharf-un-Nissa was a slave girl who migrated to Lahore from Iran with a trader’s caravan. she was a skilled singer and a graceful dancer. One day when the Empress ordered her to sing for the Emperor, he was so captivated with her voice that he gave her the splendid name, Anarkali.
Salim, the son of the great Mughal emperor Akbar, fell in love with Anarkali. She tried to keep away from Salim. But love knows no rules and soon Anarkali too was deeply in love with Salim.
The emperor could not digest the fact that his son was in love with an ordinary courtesan. He started denigrating Anarkali and devised many tactics to make her appear inferior to the eyes of the young Salim. When Salim came to know of this, he declared war against his own father. But the mighty Emperors gigantic army proved too much for the young Prince to handle. He is defeated and sentenced to death.
This is when Anarkali intervenes and renounces her love to save her beloved from the jaws of death. She is entombed alive in a brick wall right in front of her lovers eyes.
But he could never forget his one true love Anarkali, in his lifetime. When he died, her name was on his lips.
Thus ends the tragic love story of Salim and Anarkali. Even today, these two lovers are remembered by people, because of their deep and everlasting love for each other.