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DECEMBER, 1910.)
RELIGIOUS SONGS FROM NORTHERN INDIA.
845
I shall give milk to the snakes, and pass along. O my son, why do you go? There are camels in the way. I shall feed camels with (the branches) and leaves of the pipal tree and pass along. O my son why do you go ! There are elephants in the way. I shall feed elephants with mangoes and pass along. She goes upstairs and sees if it (the daughter's house) is near or far. The barber first and next the Brâhman and the brave son of mother brother) in rear. The barber has a staff in his hand and my brother has a beautifal bow in his. I salute (Ram Ram) the barber and cry holding the feet of the brother.16
I shall give (or I give) to the barber a wooden seat in a corner of the courtyard, and for my brother I set a throne.
O sister why are you thin? Why is your appearance dirty!
I am lean on account of the teasing of my mother-in-law and my husband's sister. I am dirty of my own accord; for Sawan has come.
Why are you thin, O brother? Why is your appearance dirty? I am dirty-looking because I have taken my exercise in the dust.
I shall give to the barber (a dish of) mixed rice and pulse (khichari) for food; and my mother's brother I shall prepare (a dish of) freshly washed pulse (murg) separately from the rice.
How will you give the khichari? Will you give me freshly washed mung? Your khíchasi is good and your pulse of mung is tasty.
O mawasi (mother-sister) I have come to take my sister to my house. Allow her to go with me.
Why should I let her go ? There are rivers in the way.17
The Brahman and the barber will drown and so will my long locks of hair. A curse on the barber and the Brâhman, who left me in the river. O my husband's brother, may you live long that carried me safely across the rivers.
No. LVI. A Popular Tij Song.
Sung by women in Sawan, Recorded by Allah Bakhsh, a teacher in the village school, Kaja, District Sahdranpür. Ab ki chau mâse swâmi, ghar rahô, ghar raho, nandi ke bîr. Sahpon ne chhori kanchali; nadiyon ne anchwe nir. Bell phůla., chameli phan; khil rahe Jamuna ke tîr? Kâre pile badrâ aye; kaun bandhawai dhir ?
Translation. O my lord, stay at home this rainy season (chau mded) stay at home my husband. The snakes have cast their skins, and the rivers are bubbling with water.
The 'beld has blossomed and the chamelf has blossomed and they are making pleasant, the banks of the Jamuna.
The black and the yellow clouds have come, who else will inspire me with courage !
1. The outom of the women in Northern India is that if they should moet a brother or a father when in trouble, to hold his feet and ory and in the courts of this unpleasant way of meeting they bring to bis notice all their troubles and misfortunes.
11 Repetition here of versos 2 to 9 above.
