Ritual songs and folksongs of the Hindus of Surinam

4 Sohar iv [Nieuw Nickerie, 1967]
Yaśodā offers her child to Devakī⁶

bhitarą̄, se nisarī jasodā rānī subha dina sāvana

subha dina sāvana ho

lalanā jamunā ke niramala nīra kalasa bhari lā̈iya ho
kāhe ke ghayalā ghaylariyā kāhe sūta ḍorī lāge

kāhe sūta ḍorī lāge ho

6 The song gives a new twist to the legend. According to the literary tradition, Vasudeva and Devakī were imprisoned by Kaṁsa in Mathurā and their seven children were killed, one after the other, by the tyrant because of a forecast that one of their children would destroy him. Nanda, however, saved the eighth child, Kṛṣṇa, by bringing his new born baby daughter and taking back the boy across the Yamunā to his village, Gokula. In the song, however, Yaśodā, Nanda's wife, goes to fetch water from the river, hears Devakī crying on the opposite shore, crosses over and promises to give her own child to be killed to save Devakī's eighth child.
Several versions have been recorded. Also cp. S. Avasthī (S.P. '50: 157) and Kumārī Saroja (Ibid: 297); R. Tripāṭhī ('29: 445); V. Prasāda ('62: 47, 48).

[p. 46]

IV.

lalanā kehi sakhi pānī ke jāye to sata pąca sangha liye ho

V.

sonan ke ghaylā ghaylariyā resama sūta ḍorī lāge

 

resama sūta ḍorī lāge ho

VI.

lalanā jasomati pānī ke jāye to sata pąca sangha liye ho

VII.

köi sakhi hatha mųha dhove re köi sakhi ghayalā bhare köi sakhi ghayalā bhare ho

VIII.

lalanā köi sakhi pāra nihāre tiriyā ika roväi ho

IX.

nāhį yahą̄ nāva navariyā nāhį re ghaṭa varavā ho

X.

lalanā kehi bidhi pāra utarabe tiriyā mana bodhaba ho

XI.

aṅga ke basani kachauṭā bą̄dhe sakhi saba sangha liye

 

sakhi saba sangha liye ho

XII.

lalanā ghayalā je chāti uthągā̈i jamunā daha pāra bhaye ho

XIII.

kiyā tore sāsū sasura dukha kiyā näihara ati dūri base

 

kiyā näihara ati dūri base ho

XIV.

lalanā kiyā tore hari paradesa kavana dukha roväu ho

XV.

nāhį more sāsū sasura dukha nāhį näihara ati dūri base

 

nāhį näihara ati dūri base ho

XVI.

lalanā ną̄hi more hari paradesa kokhiyā dukha roväi ho.

XVII.

sātahį pūta rāma dihale sātahų kansa harale

 

sātahų kansa haraläi ho

XVIII.

lalanā aṭhavahį garabha janāye to una kara bharosā nāhį ho

XIX.

cupi raho devaki cupi raho äurū tu cupi raho

XX.

lalanā apana hi bālaka badhäibe to tųharo jiyāya debe ho

XXI.

nunavā to milale udharavā au tela saba pą̄yaca

 

au tela saba pą̄yaca ho

XXII.

lalanā kokhiyā ke kavana udhāra mą̄galau nāhį milai ho

XXIII.

sākhi rahe cāna suruju sākhi rahe gaṅgā mā̈ī

 

sākhi rahe gaṅgā mā̈ī ho

[p. 47]

XXIV.

lalanā sākhi rahe ghara ke dharamiyā to hami devaki hiyą̄ bāṭī ho

XXV.

je yahi maṅgala gāvele gāya ke sunāvele,

 

gāya ke sunāvele ho

XXVI.

lalanā sehi bayekuṇṭha ke jāye amara phala pāväi ho

The queen Yaśodā emerged from inside; (it is a) good day of the śrāvaṇa¹ month².
Let³ us (go), fill the pitchers with the clear water of (the river) Yamunā (and) fetch (them back).
- Of what (are made the) pitchers⁴ and of what kind of thread are the strings attached (to them)?
Which Sakhi goes to (fetch) water that (there are) five or seven⁵ companions?
- The pitchers are (made) of gold and the strings (made) of silk⁶ are attached.
Yaśoda goes to (fetch) water so that there are five or seven⁵ companions.
One sakhi washes (her) hands and face and another sakhi fills the pitcher;
Another sakhi looks across (the river and finds that) a woman is crying.
(There is) no boat⁷ nor a good stelling (to go across) here.
In what way shall I get across and know the woman's mind?
She tied the garments around her body as kachauṭā⁸ (and) took all the sakhis along;

1 July-August.

2 The second half of each odd-numbered line is repeated by the singers; the repetition is not translated.

3 Each even-numbered line begins with lalanā, a stobha-vocative meaning ‘dear young one’, as if the story is told to some such person.

4 Ghayalā ghaylariyā, ‘the pitchers and so on’; a twin-word or ‘Reimbildung’.

5 An expression meaning ‘some’, ‘a number of’.

6 A string is often tied around the neck of a pitcher to dip the pitcher into a well or any deep water.

7 Nāva navariyā, ‘a boat or any such thing’.

8 Tying the upper garment around the waist; gathering the ends of the lower garment such as a sari, passing it between the legs and tucking it into the waist at the back.

[p. 48]

XII.

(They) braced the pitchers against (their) chests and got across the pool of Yamunā.

XIII.

- Do you have some trouble from your father-in-law and mother-in-law? Or, (is it that) your parental family dwells very far?

XIV.

Or (is it that) your husband¹ (has gone to a) foreign land? For what sorrow are you crying?

XV.

- I have neither any trouble from father-in-law and mother-in-law nor does my parental family dwell very far;

XVI.

Nor has my husband¹ (gone to a) foreign land - I cry for the sorrow of (my) womb.

XVII.

Rāma gave (me) seven sons and Kaṁsa took away all seven;

XVIII.

(Now there) appears the eighth pregnancy but there is no assurance (of this one's safety).

XIX.

- Be silent, Devakī, be silent.² Again, (I say) be silent;

XX.

I shall have my own child killed and (I) shall have life given to your own.

XXI.

- The salt can be had on loan and all the oil (one needs may be had) on account,

XXII.

(But) how can there be a loan of the womb (and its fruit) - (that) cannot be had even if one begs (for it).

XXIII.

- The sun and the moon remain (as my) witnesses; Gaṅgā remains (my) witness;

XXIV.

The dharma³ of (my) home remains (my) witness and, Devakī, I myself am here.

XXV.

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

XXVI.

He goes to Vaikuṇṭha⁴ and attains the fruit of immortality.⁵

1 Hari, God as Viṣṇu; such terms are often used by Hindu women to address their husbands or to refer to them.

2 Sc. ‘Do not speak such inauspicious words’.

3 The supreme and natural law and personal virtue; here personified.

4 Viṣṇu's or Kṛṣṇa's heaven.

5 In another version of the song this line is: sūra śyāma balī āsa, ‘(says) Sūra(dāsa), (by the grace of) Śyāma (i.e. Kṛṣṇa) there is powerful hope that she attains...’.