Ritual songs and folksongs of the Hindus of Surinam

25 Silpohanā¹ [Paramaribo, 1967]
Calling the spirits

silā pohe bäiṭhį̄ janaka dëī, ādhā baṛā lihalį̄ curā̈i

maṛauvā morā jūṭh bhäile

1 Not mentioned by de Klerk by this title but the ritual, starting from the use of the sil and loṛhā ('51: 144, line 19 ff.), has been described under Pitṛ-pūjā.
Cp. R. Tripāṭhī ('29: 205); Satyendra ('49: 197).
Our singer seems to have made some confusion in this song. Line I appears to be part of a gālī, a parody of a silpohanā song, which has been wrongly inserted here. The author was informed by another singer that line VI is also part of another song, sung after this one, in which the ancestors are called by respective names, replacing the phrase kavana rāmā; this second song could not be recorded completely.

[p. 73]

II.

pą̄ca pāna nau narivara; jai sarage bāṭyau dëutā pittara

 

purukhī purukhā

 

ājī ājā

 

tuharau devatā tīnu loka jaga purayau

III.

pą̄ca pāna nau narivara; jai sarage bāṭyau sārī sarahaj

 

bahū samete

 

tīnu loka jaga purayau

IV.

pą̄ca pāna nau narivara; jai bhūlala cūkala

 

isarala bisarala

 

dëuta pittara

 

ājī ājā

 

tuharau devatā tinu loka jaga purayau

V.

pą̄ca pāna nau narivara; jai havā bayār

 

ą̄dhī bavaṇḍar

 

są̄pa gojar

 

kīṛī bicchī

 

tuharau devatā tīnu loka jaga purayau

VI.

pą̄ca pāna nau narivara; sarage jo bäiṭhe kavana rāmā

 

toharo nevatā hai āja

Janaka Devī¹ sat to grind (on the) grindstone; (she) stole half a baṛā.²

My māṛo became jūṭhā.³

Five betel leaves and nine coconuts;⁴ you who are in heaven, gods and ancestors,⁵

male ancestors and female ancestors,⁵

paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother for you, O deities, (the world with all) three realms has been filled with sacrifice.⁶

1 A hypothetical name; or, perhaps the singer was thinking of someone at whose home the song was previously sung on some occasion.

2 A savoury part of the offering made from the gram ground on the grindstone.

3 Jūṭhā: that which remains after one has eaten from food; thus polluted and not fit for offering to men or gods. If one eats in a sacred or ceremonial place, the place also becames polluted.

4 Part of the offering.

5 Pitar (S. pitṛ), the ancestors who have attained a certain place in the higher realm of the dead. The terms purkhā and purkhī denote male and female ancestors in a profane sense.

6 Yajña.

[p. 74]

III.

Five betel leaves and nine coconuts; you who are in heaven, sālīs and salhajs,¹

 

together with the daughter-in-law,

 

(the world with all) three realms has been filled with sacrifice.

IV.

Five betel leaves and nine coconuts; those who have been forgotten and have slipped from memory,

 

lost and scattered,²

 

gods and ancestors,

 

paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother, for you, O deities, (the world with all) three realms has been filled with sacrifice.

V.

Five betel leaves and nine coconuts; those (which are³)

 

air and breeze,

 

gale and storm,

 

snakes and worms,⁴

 

insects⁵ and scorpions,

 

for you, O deities, (the world with all) three realms has been filled with sacrifice.

VI.

Five betel leaves and nine coconuts; you N.N. Rāma who are today sitting in heaven, today (this) invitation (is extended) to you.

1 Sālī, wife's sister. Salhaj, Wife's brother's wife.

2 A twin-word, isaral-bisaral, meaning in general, ‘forgotten and so on’.

3 The idea seems to be ‘those spirits who have become rulers of, or have taken abode in, the airs and breezes, gales and storms, or those who have become re-incarnated as snakes etc.’.

4 A kind of poisonous worm.

5 Or, ants.