Ritual songs and folksongs of the Hindus of Surinam

[p. 58]

11 Mūṛan i [Paramaribo, 1967]
The right conditions for the ceremony¹

jala bhari le hilorī hilora resama ke ḍorī
resama kī ḍoriyā jabai nīka lagai
jaba sone ghäilavā hoy

resama kī ḍorī jala bhari...

sone ghäilavā jabai nīka lāge
jaba pātara tiriyavā hoy,

resama kī ḍorī jala bhari...

pātara tiriyavā jabai nīka lāge
jaba goda horilavā hoy,

resama kī ḍorī jala bhari...

gode horilavā jabai nīka lāge
jaba kāsī mę muṇḍana hoy,

resama kī ḍorī jala bhari...

kāsī mę muṇḍana jabai nīka lāgai
jaba läurī nanadiyā hoy,

resama kī ḍorī jala bhari...

läurī nanadiyā jabai nīka lāgai
jaba gą̄ṭhī rupaiyā hoy,

resama kī ḍorī jala bhari

Fill the water with heaving movements² (with the aid of a) string of silk³.
The silken string looks well only then -

1 Cp. Archer and Prasād ('43: 169). We have recorded three versions.

2 Hilor is the movement of billows; in this case the to and fro movement of the persons drawing water from a well as they drop the pitcher into the well and draw it back with a string tied around the pitcher's neck.

3 The reference to drawing water in this refrain may on one hand be merely an indication of the gossip among the ladies at a village well, on the other hand it may refer to the custom of performing the shaving ceremony near a sheet of water. It is also possible that the silken string also obliquely refers to the hair itself as it is wetted with water during the ceremony prior to being shaved.

[p. 59]

III.

When there is a pitcher (made of) gold.¹

IV.

The pitcher of gold looks well only then -

V.

When the woman (fetching it) is slim.²

VI.

The slim woman looks well only then -

VII.

When (there) is a sweet little baby boy in (her) lap.

VIII.

The child in the lap looks well only then -

IX.

When (his) muṇḍana (i.e. the shaving ceremony) takes place in the (the city of) Kāśī.

X.

The muṇḍana in Kāśī looks well only then -

XI.

When the little nanad is (present there).

XII.

The (presence of the) little nanad looks well only then -

XIII.

When there is money in the knot.³

1 The refrain is not translated with each repetition.

2 Dr. V. Agravāl ('62: 86) translates pātar as tīkṣṇa (sharp) but whether in features or in nature is not clear.

3 The knot in the corner of a dhotī (men's lower garment), sārī, or oṛhanī (women's headscarf) in which the money is tied; idiomatically, a purse.