Indian Antiquary Vol 48

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 340

18
TRE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
to be sacrificed. The words, their order, the prefixes, the suffixes, the postpositions, are all more or less changed, the order of the words suffers: in short the poetical language requires a special study, which is the more difficult to give, as songs are always impromptu, and not, as a rule, sung again after the one occasion for which they were composed, and then only by the composer. The following specimen of a song composed by the gam-bu, to whom the above letters were addressed, after his liberation from a six months' imprisonment, about 1865, for having shot down & sailor whom he found taking liberties with his wife, was given to Mr. Man by the author.
I. As IT WAS SUNG. SOLO. ngô do k@k artâ“lag ka,
moro el ma ka igba dala moro elimo le aden yarà
po-tot läh.
CHORUS. adenyarà po-tot läh. II. LITERAL TRANSLATION OF THE POETRY.
thou heart sad sky surface there look-at sky surface of ripple
bamboo spear. III. PROSE ANDAMANESE VERSION BY MR. MAN.
ngôl kúk l'artâ lagike moro el ma len kâ to igba dignga bedig, moro el ma la en'yar len igbâ dignga bedig
po-tög len täg imike, IV. LITERAL TRANSLATION OF PROSE VERSION.
thou heart-sed-art sky-surface to there looking while, sky-surface of ripple to looking while,
bamboo spear on lean-dost. V. FREE TRANSLATION OF PROSE VERSION.
thou art sad at heart, gazing there at the sky's surface, gazing at the ripple on the sky's surface,
leaning on the bamboo spear. The rhythm Was :
--1--|--|-- -- |-||
- 1 - - The syllables marked were of medial length. There were two short syllables at the end of the second and third lines. The three long syllables in the fourth line were very long and slow, each filling up a whole measure. Strange as some of the changes and omissions were, this is one of the least altered of the songs. We must suppose the man to be standing before his companions after liberation from prison, gazing sadly at the sky again and resting on his bamboo spear, and then the action would maks the words intelligible.