Ritual songs and folksongs of the Hindus of Surinam

[p. 127]

70 On Bali and Viṣṇu in Vāmana incarnation¹ [Nieuw Nickerie, 1967]

rājā mata de dāna jamį̄ ko
yā hī ne harinākusa māryo duniyā desa dhunī ko
yā bāmhana kų̄ choṭo mati jāne ū to chaliyā desa dunī ko
yā hī ne haricanda chalyau hai nīra bharyo bhangī ko
yā hī ne moradhvaja chalyo hai lāye sera banī ko
yā hī ne rājā rāvana māryo jodhā lankapurī ko

rājā mata de...

King, do not make a gift of the land.
This very one killed Hiraṇyakaśipu: (when) the (whole) world was a country of that dedicated one.²
Do not take this Brāhmaṇa (to be) little; he is a (well-known) crook of the country (and the) world.
This very one has cheated Hariścandra³ who (had to) fetch water for a sweeper.
This very one has cheated Mayūradhvaja⁴ (having) brought a lion of the forest.
This very one killed the king Rāvaṇa, the warrior of the city of Laṅkā.

King, do not make...

1 See p. 35. During the Vāmana incarnation Viṣṇu, in the form of a dwarf brahmin, begged Bali, the powerful demon king, for the amount of land he would cover in three steps. Śukra, the guru of the rākṣasas, advised Bali not to make the gift. See VP. I. 19.52 also.

2 Hiraṅyakaśipu, the father of Prahlāda, was killed by Viṣṇu in the nṛsiṃha (man-lion) incarnation. It appears that the singer has confused his lines; the second half of the line V should be here. For Prahlāda and Hiraṇyakaśipu, see VP. I. chapters 16 ff.

3 See on song No. 46.

4 ‘He whose flag bears the sign of a peacock’, a name of Bāṇa. Bāṇāsura's daughter, Uṣā, fell in love with Aniruddha, Kṛṣṇa's grandson, whom the girl's father tried to kill, which resulted in a war and the destruction of Bāṇa's kingdom.