25 Silpohanā1 [Paramaribo, 1967]
Calling the spirits
I.
silā pohe bäiṭhį̄ janaka dëī, ādhā baṛā lihalį̄ curā̈i
maṛauvā morā jūṭh bhäile
[p. 73]
II.
pą̄ca pāna nau narivara; jai sarage bāṭyau dëutā pittara
purukhī purukhā
ājī ājā
tuharau devatā tīnu loka jaga purayau
III.
pą̄ca pāna nau narivara; jai sarage bāṭyau sārī sarahaj
bahū samete
tīnu loka jaga purayau
IV.
pą̄ca pāna nau narivara; jai bhūlala cūkala
isarala bisarala
dëuta pittara
ājī ājā
tuharau devatā tinu loka jaga purayau
V.
pą̄ca pāna nau narivara; jai havā bayār
ą̄dhī bavaṇḍar
są̄pa gojar
kīṛī bicchī
tuharau devatā tīnu loka jaga purayau
VI.
pą̄ca pāna nau narivara; sarage jo bäiṭhe kavana rāmā
toharo nevatā hai āja
[p. 74]
III.
Five betel leaves and nine coconuts; you who are in heaven, sālīs and salhajs,1
together with the daughter-in-law,
(the world with all) three realms has been filled with sacrifice.
IV.
Five betel leaves and nine coconuts; those who have been forgotten and have slipped from memory,
lost and scattered,2
gods and ancestors,
paternal grandfather and maternal grandmother, for you, O deities, (the world with all) three realms has been filled with sacrifice.
V.
Five betel leaves and nine coconuts; those (which are3)
air and breeze,
gale and storm,
snakes and worms,4
insects5 and scorpions,
for you, O deities, (the world with all) three realms has been filled with sacrifice.
VI.
Five betel leaves and nine coconuts; you N.N. Rāma who are today sitting in heaven, today (this) invitation (is extended) to you.
1Not mentioned by de Klerk by this title but the ritual, starting from the use of the sil and loṛhā ('51: 144, line 19 ff.), has been described under Pitṛ-pūjā.
Cp. R. Tripāṭhī ('29: 205); Satyendra ('49: 197).
Our singer seems to have made some confusion in this song. Line I appears to be part of a gālī, a parody of a silpohanā song, which has been wrongly inserted here. The author was informed by another singer that line VI is also part of another song, sung after this one, in which the ancestors are called by respective names, replacing the phrase kavana rāmā; this second song could not be recorded completely.
Cp. R. Tripāṭhī ('29: 205); Satyendra ('49: 197).
Our singer seems to have made some confusion in this song. Line I appears to be part of a gālī, a parody of a silpohanā song, which has been wrongly inserted here. The author was informed by another singer that line VI is also part of another song, sung after this one, in which the ancestors are called by respective names, replacing the phrase kavana rāmā; this second song could not be recorded completely.
1A hypothetical name; or, perhaps the singer was thinking of someone at whose home the song was previously sung on some occasion.
2A savoury part of the offering made from the gram ground on the grindstone.
3Jūṭhā: that which remains after one has eaten from food; thus polluted and not fit for offering to men or gods. If one eats in a sacred or ceremonial place, the place also becames polluted.
4Part of the offering.
5Pitar (S. pitṛ), the ancestors who have attained a certain place in the higher realm of the dead. The terms purkhā and purkhī denote male and female ancestors in a profane sense.
6Yajña.
1Sālī, wife's sister. Salhaj, Wife's brother's wife.
2A twin-word, isaral-bisaral, meaning in general, ‘forgotten and so on’.
3The idea seems to be ‘those spirits who have become rulers of, or have taken abode in, the airs and breezes, gales and storms, or those who have become re-incarnated as snakes etc.’.
4A kind of poisonous worm.
5Or, ants.
