________________
147
pariosasundarain tais cia una virahe
suraesu lahaṁti jāi sokkhāi khāugginnai k Tramti.
The pleasures of love-making, which gave so much satisfaction, are during his absence turned into stale memories.
Other Gathās deal with farmers, notably gahavais and halias. The gahavai or 'lord of the house' seems to be a member of the landed gentry. The halia or 'ploughman' is apparently a small farmer who like a sharecropper partly makes a living by hiring out his labour. Despite the obvious differences in their social positions, they are seen to exchange brides. The gahavai gives his daughter in marriage to the halia, thus placing the girl in a very difficult position as appears from, for instance, Gathā 602:
maṁdan pi na ānai hali- gahavaisua vivajjai
anamdano iha hi daddhagāmammi avejjae kassa sāhāmo.
The ploughman does not understand (a thing, not) even slowly (or: does not even know what illness is). His genteel wife is dying but who can we tell, for in this wretched village there is no healer for her ills.
The gahavai's daughter is complaining in Gathā 164:
vaink a ko pulaijjai kena samaṁ va hasijjai
kassa kahijjai suhaṁ va dukkham va pāmar apaure haaggāme."
Who is there to glance at, who is there for me to talk to about my pleasures and my griefs, who is there to have fun with, in this dreary village full of yokels?
After her marriage the halia's daughter, coming from a simple family, encounters problems in her new environment. One thing she lacks is coquetry." In order to attract her husband's attention she behaves rather clumsily. E.g. Gātha 107:
