The love story of Odho Jam and Hothal Padamani, is one of the most popular ones in Kachchh and even in parts of Saurashtra, where it must have travelled like folk tales do. In the many versions, spread across times zones and geographies, we get different accounts of their ancestry. Odho is either the brave leader of a tribe, or a Kshatriya warrior from Kiyor, and Hothal is a brave woman leading a tribe; in many versions she often appears as a celestial being living on earth as the result of a curse.
Odho Jam is in exile, after having rejected the sexual advances of Minavati, his sister-in-law. He is staying with a maternal relative, Visaldev of Pirana Patan, whose camels have been raided by Bambhaniya, the chief of Nagar-Samoi in Sindh. Odho decides to bring them back.
Hothal Padamani, belonging to a pastoral tribe, has her own scores to settle with the Bambhaniya of Sindh. He had ravaged her father’s kingdom and stole his cattle too. She had promised her dying father to avenge him. When she meets Odho Jam, she is out on her mission, dressed as a male warrior, called “Hotho” in some versions, and “Ekkalmal” in others. Odho Jam takes her to be a brave young soldier. United in their purpose, Odho Jam and Hothal form an immediate friendship, fight Bambhaniya’s men together, and return with the camels.
On returning from Nagar-Samoi, they part ways, Odho leaves for Pirana Patan and Hotho for mount Kanara. After a few days Odha Jam, unable to forget Hotho, decides to go in search of his friend. He spots the brave soldier’s male attire and his horse near a lake, and then he discovers the truth about Hothal’s identity when he sees her bathing in the water.
Stricken by love, Odho wants to marry her. Hothal, also in love, agrees on one condition: she will be with Odho Jam only and as long as he keeps her identity a secret. They get married and have two brave boys. Years later in the company of friends all drunken, as some versions say, or in a public meeting explaining the exceptional brave personality of his young children, according to another version, Odho reveals Hothal’s identity. She leaves him.
The song presented here in the voice of Jhuma Vagher from Bhadresar, begins at this moment in Odho Jam’s life, encapsulating the moment of separation. Odho Jam is miserable and in tears. Such grief, such tears that even the Hajasar lake overflows. Hothal Padamani is being coaxed to return with promises of luxury and hospitality.
