Ritual songs and folksongs of the Hindus of Surinam

59 Marsiyā [Paramaribo, 1967]

²kahavą̄ hasana tore janama bhaye kahavą̄ chināyo nāravā
kahavą̄ hasana tųh gena khelyo kahavą̄ gąvāyo jānavā
makkā madīnā more janama bhaye dharatī chināyo nāravā
cauke para maį to gena khelyo karabal gąvāyo jānavā

cārǫ tarafa diyanā jale bicavā bajhiniyā caukī bhare
he allā mero goda bhari de chūṭe bajhiniyā ke nāma re, hāy hāy

Where has your birth taken place, Hasan, (and) where was your umbilical cord cut?
Where did you play ball, Hasan, (and) where did you lose your life?
My birth took place at Makkā (i.e. Mecca) (or) Madīnā (i.e. Medina) (and my) umbilical cord was cut on earth.
I played ball in the courtyard, mother, (and) lost (my) life in (the battlefield of) Qarblā.

2 Compare line I with line II of song No. 7 on Kṛṣṇa. See also note 2 on p. 23.

[p. 115]

B

I.

On all four sides clay lamps burn and in the centre (thereof) an infertile woman fills (i.e. draws) the cauk (designs).¹

II.

(She prays:) O God, fill my lap (with a child) (so that my) title of a bą̄jh² may be removed; oh, oh.

1 On cauk see pp. 14 ff. Any designs made at the tāziā are not known.

2 Cp. song No. 5, line XXIII.

3 This song is for a manautī; see p. 23.