Ritual songs and folksongs of the Hindus of Surinam

[p. 166]

99 Modern iv [Ansoe, 1967]
A Patriotic Birahā on Surinam geography

ḍihavā digambara pīr paigambara jagadambā
more agama gyāna ghaṭa kholaį
au birhā maį gā̈ų̄ mātā tumhare saranavā jagadambā
more bandha galā deyo khol

kahų̄ bayāna maį srīnāma kā pardesī jarā sun leyo dhyāna lagāy
pahile banā sahara saharātana phira pīche gąväī bana jāy
tekare pīche sāndarëi jahą̄ para flīkhafelta hai bhāy
tekare pīche pārānāma hai vahą̄ se boksīta bikatī hai bhāy
tekare pīche afubākā hai tahą̄ para pārī dihala bądhāy
tekare pīche kolā krīka hai vahą̄ para sīdhe mukti ho jāy

jilā hamārā kamavainā hai bhā̈ī bhajaniyā re yākalesa hai grāma hamār
nāma hamārā rāmanārāyana va duvāre āmra vrikṣa laharāye

O Ḍīh and sky-clad ones,¹ pīrs and prophets (and) mother of the universe -
May (you) open the vessel of impenetrable knowledge for me.
And I sing the birahā, mother, (by taking) refuge with you, O mother of the universe.
Loosen and vanquish² my bonds.

1 See note 1, p. 144.

2 Galā denā, literally, to make (them) rot away.

[p. 167]

B

I.

I describe Surinam¹ (to you), O foreigner, concentrate and listen a while.

II.

First (there are) built the city and the urban areas,² then, after that the villages are made.

III.

Thereafter (comes) Zanderij³ where there is the airport, brother.

IV.

Thereafter is Paranam; the bauxite⁴ is sold from there, brother.

V.

Thereafter is Afobakka;⁵ there the water has been stopped (in a dam).

VI.

Thereafter is Cola Creek; (by bathing) there Mukti⁶ is directly attained (by one).

My district is Commewijne, brother songster, (and) my village is Jagtlust.⁷
My name is Rāmnārāyan and at the gate (of my house there) flourishes a mango tree.

1 Srīnāma; see note 2 on song 98.

2 The singer's reference is not really to their construction but rather that ‘they are found so built: start from the city of Paramaribo and travel to various places’.

3 Sanderëī flīkhafelt: Zanderij Vliegveld.

4 Boksīt: the Hindi form of bauxite. Paranam has the bauxite factory where ships arrive on the Suriname river to collect bauxite.

5 The hydroelectric project where a dam has been built on the Suriname river.

6 Salvation. The reference is to the Hindu belief that sins are washed away by bathing in certain sacred rivers. The Cola Creek is a popular resort near Zanderij, but it is not yet ‘sacred’; perhaps the singer is well on the way to sanctifying it.

7 The Hindi form is Yākles.