Ritual songs and folksongs of the Hindus of Surinam

2 Sohar ii [Nieuw Nickerie, 1967]
Śiva and Pārvatī³

bhaṅiyā ke mattī mahādeva ho bhaṅiyā bhaṅiyā kare, bhaṅiyā bhaṅiyā kare ho
gäurā bhaṇiyā ghoṭata alasānī to chana ta bikala bhäile ho
tū to mahādeva bhaṅaṛī are bhaṅiyā bhaṅiyā kare, bhaṅiyā bhaṅiyā kare ho
sivavā hamare to bhäile haį gaṇapati bhüiyą̄ pari loṭäį ho
itanā bacana sivavā sunale sunahį nahį pāve, sunahį nahį pāväį ho
sivavā līne bayala asavār ḍhų̄dhana cale dhagarina ho
pūche lāge rahiyā baṭohiyā se küiyą̄ panihārini ho
dhana hama ka tū ḍagarā batāvatëu kahą̄ re base dhagarina ho
bole lāge rahiyā baṭohiyā küiyą̄ panihārini, küiyą̄ panihārina ho
sivavā aliyapura pāṭana hüą̄ re base dhagarina ho
ke more ṭaṭiyā khuṛkāve banhana sarakāve, banhana sarakāväile ho

3 Cp. V. Prasāda ('62: 41-42); Daśaratha instead of Śiva searching for a midwife, K. Upādhyāya ('54: 108-109). Line XV: Grierson (J.R.A.S. 1884: 225).

[p. 41]

XII.

rāma kavane raniyavā ke pūta adhiyā rāti āväį ho

XIII.

dhagarina more ghara dhaniyā biyākula ta tumha kā bulāvahį (ho)¹

XIV.

jā̈ū to sivavā ai jāväu ho siva ho mahādeva hama bāṭi dhagarina ho

XV.

sivavā torī dhana hathavā ki są̄kari mųha ke phūhara to hama nāhį jāväi ho

XVI.

je yahi maṅgala gā̈i ke sunāväile, gā̈i ke sunāväi ho

XVII.

tulasī de amara phala (incomplete)

Mahādeva (is) addicted² to hemp and calls repeatedly ‘hemp’, ‘hemp’.
Pārvatī, grinding the hemp, felt languid, a moment, and then (she) became helpless (with pain).
- You, O Mahādeva, are addicted to hemp and call ‘hemp’, ‘hemp’;
While, O Śiva, to me Gaṇeśa is (nearly) born and (would be) lying on the ground.
Śiva heard just this statement and could not even hear (it complete)-
(He) Śiva took an ox³ as (his) mount and started out to search for a midwife.
He began to ask the traveller on the road and the woman fetching water on the well;
- Dear, would that you would tell me the way⁴ to where a midwife lives.
The traveller on the road and the woman fetching water on the well began to tell (him);
- Oh Śiva, (there is a) city called Aliyapur;⁵ there a midwife lives.
- Who is knocking (at) my screen and loosening the ties;⁶ has loosened the ties?

1 Added by the translator for uniformity's sake.

2 Or, ‘he who gets intoxicated on’.

3 Presumably, Śiva's mythical bull, Nandī.

4 A polite idiom for ‘please tell me the way’.

5 Perhaps, Alīpur.
Probably the song was sung originally somewhere where the midwife had been called from Alīpur.

6 Ṭaṭṭī and banhan: the screens made of thatch material and tied together to form the walls and rooms.

[p. 42]

XII.

The son of which queen¹ comes in the middle of the night?

XIII.

- Oh midwife, at my home (my) precious one is helpless (with pain or with imminent childbirth), so (she) calls for you.

XIV.

- Go then, Śiva; Śiva, go (away). Mahādeva, I am a midwife;

XV.

Śiva, (if) your precious one is tight of hand² and unrefined of mouth, then I shall not go.

XVI.

Whoever sings this auspicious song and lets it be heard (by others);

XVII.

Tulasī gives the fruit of immortality (incomplete)³

1 Though it appears to be a respectable way of speaking, it is actually a euphemism for a curse, ‘son of so and so’.

2 Not generous in giving the fees.

3 It is customary to leave a final portion incomplete where the content can be guessed by everybody.