चौताल १
सखी फूले बसन्तके फूल बिरह तनु जारे ।।
चम्पा फुले गुलाब फुले सुरुजमुखी कचनारे ।।
उड़हुल बेलि चमेलि फुलानेहो,
सर कमल फुले रतनारे ।।१।।
जुही मालती कंदइल दाड़िम गोंदा फुले हजारे ।।
लाल अनार कुसुमकलियनहो सखी सिरीस फुले अतिबारे ।।२।।
बाग पियाबिन फूल फुलाने मारत जान हमारे ।।
जो पीया होत हमारे संगमेंहो,
सखि करत बिथा सब न्यारे ।।३।।
कोइल सब्द करत बगियामें सुनि सुनि फटत दरारे ।।
लालबिहारी कहत समुझाइ हो,
गोरी तुमरो बलम अतिबारे ।।४।।
चौताल २
पपीहा बन बैन सुनावे निंद नहीं आवे ।।
आधीरात भई जब सखिया कामबिरह सन्तावे ।।
पियबिन चैन मनहि नहिं आवत,
सखि जोबन जोर जनावे ।।१।।
फागुन मस्त महीना सजनी पियबिन मोहिं न भावे ।।
पवन झकोरत लुह जनु लागत,
गोरी बैठी तहां पछितावे ।।२।।
सब सखि मिलकर फाग रचतहैं । ढोल मृदंग बजावे ।।
हाथ अबीर कनक पिचकारी हो,
सखि देखत मन दुख पावे ।।३।।
हे बिधना मैं काहबिगाड़ो जनम अकारथ जावे ।।
लालबिहारी कहत समुझाइ हो,
गोरी धीरजमें सुख पावे ।।४।।
चौताल ३
सखि उठिकर करहु सिंगार बसन्त जाये ।।
बाजुबन्द कंगन भल सोहे अँगुरिन नेपुर भाय ।।
पहिरि बिजायठ हार जो सोहत,
सिर बेन्दी मन लाये ।।१।।
करि सिंगार पलंगपर बैठी पिया पिया गोहराय ।।
मैं बिरहिनि पिया बात न पूछत,
तब जोबन जोर जनाय ।।२।।
चोलिया मसके बन्द सब टूटे अंग अंग थहराय ।।
कामके बिरह सहा नहीं जातहो,
गोरी सोचनमें तन छाय ।।३।।
पियपिय बोल पपिहरा बोलत सुनि सुनि धीर न आये ।।
लालबिहारी धीर धरावत,
गोरी धीर धरो मन माय ।।४।।
चौताल ४
पीयवा परदेसमें छाये सन्देस न आाये ।।
सुन्दर मास फगुनवा सजनी पियबिन मोहिं न भाये ।।
पियपिय बोल पपिहरा बोलत,
सुनि कामबिरह तनु छाये ।।१।।
बारे सैयां परदेस निकलगये नहिं कुछ खबर जनाये ।।
नाग वो बाण बरस अब गुजरेहो,
मन अधिक उठत घबड़ाये ।।२।।
छाड़ि जनाना घर मरदाना पीयकर खोज कराये ।।
धीर धरों जिय धीर न आवत,
तहं योबन जोर जनाये ।।३।।
निसिदिन बैठी पिया दिस देखत अबहुं पिया नहीं आये ।।
लालबिहारी बिरह बस कामिनि,
पिय आइके बिरह छोरड़ाये ।।४।।
चौताल ५
सखि आये बसंत बहार पिया नहिं आये ।।
फागुन मस्त महीना सखिया मोर जिया ललचाये ।।
सब नर नारी जो पागुन गावत,
सखि मोकहं सूम बढ़ाये ।।१।।
ताल मृदंग झांझ डफ बाजे सबको मन हरषाये ।।
मैं बिरहिनि सेजियापर बिलखति,
मोहिं अजु मदन तनु छाये ।।२।।
भरभरके पिचकारी मारत नात गोत बिलगाये ।।
सखि सब घर घर धूम मचावत,
तहां रंग अबिरन छाये ।।३।।
गोरी देत सभीको सबही ना कोइ काहु लजाये।।
लालबिहारी विरहबस बनिताहो,
सोतो बैठे मनहि सुझाये ।।४।।
डमरा फाग बहार से
लालबिहारी शर्मा
Recording credits: Amar Ramessar (vocals), Tarun Deodat (tabla), and Avinash Roopchan (keyboard and sound engineering).
Listen to "Chautal 3" sung in the original Awadhi-Bhojpuri by Amar Ramessar:
Lalbihari Sharma’s Holi Songs of Demerara (first published in 1916) echoes the classical Braj poetry of Mirabai and Kabir. It has been very important in thinking of Indian diasporic cultural identity as not being a product of fragmentation, but rather one of continuance and constant evolution. Because of this, Sharma’s contribution to Caribbean literatures must receive consideration.
I first heard of this work from Gaiutra Bahadur, author of Coolie Woman: the Odyssey of Indenture. She contacted me and asked me if I would be able to translate this collection of Phagwa/Holi chautal from the plantation Awadhi/Bhojpuri as a poet and not as an academic. Bahadur gave me license to write these songs into English.
Translating this work is one of transposing musics. The translator must take one kind of musical thinking and squeeze it into an ill-fitting form—perpetrating violence, moving from the language of the periphery to that of the colonial center. As someone who was raised to be monolingual in English, who relearned both Caribbean Hindi and Standard Hindi, I was haunted by a poetic of longing whose origin I could not place.
East Indians were promised return after fulfilling their contracts, yet this never came for some. It’s this broken promise that caused us to transform into our amalgamative Caribbean cultures. This poetry is one piece of a new origin myth. Listen at your own risk; you will certainly be transformed.
I first heard of this work from Gaiutra Bahadur, author of Coolie Woman: the Odyssey of Indenture. She contacted me and asked me if I would be able to translate this collection of Phagwa/Holi chautal from the plantation Awadhi/Bhojpuri as a poet and not as an academic. Bahadur gave me license to write these songs into English.
Translating this work is one of transposing musics. The translator must take one kind of musical thinking and squeeze it into an ill-fitting form—perpetrating violence, moving from the language of the periphery to that of the colonial center. As someone who was raised to be monolingual in English, who relearned both Caribbean Hindi and Standard Hindi, I was haunted by a poetic of longing whose origin I could not place.
East Indians were promised return after fulfilling their contracts, yet this never came for some. It’s this broken promise that caused us to transform into our amalgamative Caribbean cultures. This poetry is one piece of a new origin myth. Listen at your own risk; you will certainly be transformed.
Lalbihari Sharma was born in Chhapra village in the United Provinces of India (now Bihar, India). As his name suggests, he belonged to the Brahmin caste. He was indentured by the British East India Company to work the sugarcane fields as a manual laborer and published his collection of chautal folksongs in 1916, the only work that he would publish in his lifetime. A musician and singer, he is the first Indo-Caribbean writer to write and publish a book from Guyana and the Caribbean, one of the only books written in the dialect of his village. Not much is known about his life other than the autobiographical information that is included in this work and what Gaiutra Bahadur writes in her book Coolie Woman: the Odyssey of Indenture. He speaks of his changing caste identity and the plight of the laborers in British Guyana in 1916.
Rajiv Mohabir won the 2014 Intro Prize in Poetry by Four Way Books for his first full-length collection The Taxidermist’s Cut (Spring 2016), the 2015 AWP Intro Journal Award, the Kundiman Prize for The Cowherd’s Son, and a PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant. He has received fellowships from the Voices of Our Nation’s Artist foundation, Kundiman, and the American Institute of Indian Studies language program. His poetry and translations are internationally published or forthcoming from journals such as Best American Poetry 2015, Quarterly West, Guernica, Prairie Schooner, Crab Orchard Review, Drunken Boat, Anti-, Great River Review, PANK, and Aufgabe. He received his M.F.A. in poetry and translation from Queens College, CUNY, where he was editor-in-chief of the Ozone Park Literary Journal. Currently, he is pursuing a Ph.D. in English at the University of Hawai`i, where he teaches poetry and composition.
