Any lowering of the standard would indicate the field had been lost. Then, in keeping with true Rajput tradition, the princesses were to fling themselves off the lofty ramparts to death on the rocks below. But as the distant fray unfolded, for one brief moment, the flag was lost from sight in the dust and commotion. For the princesses this was enough sign of defeat. Both Saddo and Mazzo leapt off the castle ramparts and died even as their victorious army turned homeward.

 

This legend keeps the area of Saddo Mazzo alive in local lore and the minds of those who graze their livestock among the tortuous bends of the Nali Stream as it meanders eastward down the great wall of the Kirthar Mountains. However, we were there not to lament the needless deaths of the princesses. We had other reasons. We know that the people of the Sindhu Valley routinely travelled back and forth between their homes and distant Mesopotamia by this very conduit through the rugged Kirthar Mountains. We were treading on that same ancient highroad to look for the art those far off ancestors had left behind.