10. Marriage songs.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Russell, R. V. (Robert Vane)
The following are some specimens of songs sung at weddings. The first is about Rāma’s departure from Ajodhia when he went to the forests:
Now Hari (Rāma) has driven his chariot forth to the jungle.
His father and mother are weeping.
Kaushilya38 stood up and said, ‘Now, whom shall I call my diamond and my ruby?’
Dasrath went to the tower of his palace to see his son;
As Rāma’s chariot set forth under the shade of the trees, he wished that he might die.
Bharat ran after his brother with naked feet.
He said, ‘Oh brother, you are going to the forest, to whom do you give the kingdom of Oudh?’
Rāma said, ‘When fourteen years have passed away I shall come back from the jungles. Till then I give the kingdom to you.’
The following is a love dialogue:
Make a beautiful garden for me to see my king.
In that garden what flowers shall I set?
Lemons, oranges, pomegranates, figs.
In that garden what music shall there be?
A tambourine, a fiddle, a guitar and a dancing girl.
In that garden what attendants shall there be?
A writer, a supervisor, a secretary for writing letters.39
The next is a love-song by a woman:
How has your countenance changed, my lord?
Why speak you not to your slave?
If I were a deer in the forest and you a famous warrior, would you not shoot me with your gun?
If I were a fish in the water and you the son of a fisherman, would you not catch me with your drag-net?
If I were a cuckoo in the garden and you the gardener’s son, would you not trap me with your liming-stick?
The last is a dialogue between Rādha and Krishna. Rādha with her maidens was bathing in the river when Krishna stole all their clothes and climbed up a tree with them. Girdhāri is a name of Krishna:
R. You and I cannot be friends, Girdhāri; I am wearing a silk-embroidered cloth and you a black blanket.
You are the son of old Nānd, the shepherd, and I am a princess of Mathura.
You have taken my clothes and climbed up a kadamb tree. I am naked in the river.
K. I will not give you your clothes till you come out of the water.
R. If I come out of the water the people will laugh and clap at me.
All my companions seeing your beauty say, ‘You have vanquished us; we are overcome.’