Indian Antiquary Vol 26

SR No.: 032518
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 360
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 15 MB

Page 343

DECEMBER, 1897.]
FOLKLORE IN SALSETTE.
337
FOLKLORE IN SALSETTE,
BY GEO. F. D'PENHA.
No. 19. - The Story of Bharo. THERE once lived an old woman with a daughter of a marriageable age. The girl was
1 old enough to help her mother in earning a livelihood, but she was too lazy - indeed, so lazy as not even to rise a little early in the morning and look after the kitchen work. The old woman, therefore, would get up early, and do the cooking. At sunrise she would call out to ber daughter, thus: - "O! g8 Bharó, pál pálai, dis gélé mandpár, Rise, Bhard, it is dawn, the sun has risen in the sky."
To this the daughter would reply: - " Dis mand pásia gelê tê záundé, cin sitâ vin phanii visini gunthin anî dambrínaním ráz larin, If the sun is risen in the sky, let him do so, without thread and without a comb I will dress my hair, and I will live on one dambrí." After some hesitation she would rise, arrange her toilet, and eat and drink.
In this way some time past, till one day the king's son was going to school, and his way led past the old woman's hut. As he was just opposite the hut, these words fell upon his ears : -"! go Bharó, pál pdlan, dis gélé mandpáni, Rise, Bbaro, it is dawn, the sun has risen in the sky." And while he was still within hearing, Bharô replied: -"Dis gélé mandpár té záundo, vin sútá vin phanisi vinín gunthin ani dambrímanin raz karin, If the sun is risen in the sky, let him do so, without thread and without a comb I will dress my hair, and I will live on one dambre."
Having heard this the prince went to school, but the last words of Bharo's reply - " dambrímanii rás karin, I will live on one dambri" - made such an impression upon him, that he made up his mind to get married to Bhard with the view to test how she could live on such an insignificant sum of one-twenty-fourth of an anna. In the evening, when school was over, he began to think how to obtain her in marriage, and considering it rather difficult, because of their respective social positions, he went and threw himself down in his father's stables, through sheer grief, while all the palace was searching for him in all directions. Towards dusk the king's batkini came into the stables, with bags of gram, to feed the horses. And what did they do? They threw the husks of the gram to the horses, eating the gram themselves. The prince, who saw this from his hiding place, could contain his anger no longer, and shouted out: - "Ahan, chané chané tumia khátá ani sálari sálari ghóriánán ghatá nahin ?
Tavans & fumíi disán dis masat challids ani mánjé ghoré súkat chállián," Ab ha ! you are eating the gram yourselves, throwing only the husks to the horses? No wonder you are growing fatter and fatter every day, while my horses are getting lean."
The bathinis, however, did not mind the prince's reproach, but only said : -- " Rájú Sahib, Rájá Sáhib,5 athild ká kartá? Túmché sathi sárú gára sódítán, Raja Sahib, Raja Sahib, what are you doing here? The whole country is being searched on your account."
The prince, who saw that he was discovered by the baykinís, threatened them with a severe thrashing if they went and acquainted the king, his father, with his hiding-place. But the batlínis cared not for the prince's threats, but ran to the king in great haste and with joyful hearts, for they knew that their trouble would not go unrewarded, and addressed him thus:
1 The literal meaning of this would be: - Get up, Bharô, it is dawn, day is gone to the mandap. A madap may be taken to mean a shamiing.
? Literally, if the day is gone to the mandap, let it go, without thread, without comb I will entanglo my hair, and on one dambri I shall reign queen. A dambri is half & pie, or one-twenty-fourth part of an anna.
3 Maid-servants,
• Translated literally, it would mean : - Ah ha! the gram you are eating and the skins you are putting to the horses, no ? Then only it is that you are fattouing day after day and my horses are becoming dry.
Meaning the prince.