Ritual songs and folksongs of the Hindus of Surinam

92 Nakaṭā² [Paramaribo, 1962]

suno sakhi saiyą̄ jogiyā höi gäile, hamahų joginī höi jāb

suno sakhi...

2 Cp. Grierson (J.R.A.S. 1884: 248); R. Tripāṭhī ('29: 414); D. Siṁha ('44: 463); K. Upādhyāya ('54: 150); S. Anila ('57: 105); K. Upādhyāya ('60: 267).

[p. 159]

II.

jogiyā ke sohe lālī gudaṛiyā ho, joginī ke sohe paṭa cīrā

 

suno sakhi...

III.

jogiyā bajāve sone sāraṅgiyā ho, joginī dū raha tāl

 

suno sakhi...

IV.

galiyā ke galiyā jogī pheriyā lagäihaį, joginī gäihaį malhār

 

suno sakhi...

Listen, sakhi, (my) master has become a jogī;¹ I, too, shall become a joginī.²

Listen, sakhi...

A red quilt³ looks charming on the jogī; on the joginī (also) the hermit-like clothing⁴ looks charming.

Listen, sakhi...

The jogī plays on a gold sāraṅgī⁵ (and the) joginī is keeping the beat (with her hands).

Listen, sakhi...

The jogī will make (his) rounds from street to street (and the) joginī will sing the malhār.⁶

Listen, sakhi...

1 A wandering mendicant.

2 A female wandering mendicant.

3 Gudaṛī, a piece of clothing made of rags stuffed together and sewn. The colour of a mendicant's clothing is reddish; more accurately, ochre.

4 Cīra: clothing in general but in this case it denotes what may be suitably worn by a hermit in the forest, for example, barks etc. used to cover the body. The clothing Sītā had to wear when departing for the forest is referred to as cīra.

5 See p. 10.

6 An Indian tune especially suited for the rainy season. Here it connotes the singer's worry about wandering about behind her husband during the rains.