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Singer: Inder Devi. Village Rakcham. Translated by Pramiti Negi
“Goli go Hona, Haya be hona” [1]
If you go in that direction
In the Tholang[2] village
Their high-altitude grazing land has a huge herd of cattle.
Whose huge herd be that?
Don’t ask whose herd
Half of it belongs to the deity [3]
Half of it belongs to the Baat Family
Looking after such a herd
Who must be the shepherd?
Shepherd, you ask
It’s the daughter of Baat family from Tholang Village
The beautiful Tsering Mol.
Oh, what a maiden she is!
Her prowess same as that of men
Her attire that of a man.
A long coat with a waistband [4]
Her waistband hangs a sickle (to chop branches/plants along the way which is fed to the cattle)
A flute in hand
that she plays
On the flute what must be the tune that she is playing?
Oh! What a tune
“One would not want the birth of a shepherd
A winter wasted in grazing the cattle in the low-lying regions away from home [5]
And summer spent in high alpine pastures [6]
In the summer frost [7]
(Due to frost) no matter where you sit its always damp.
Your friends are but the birds of high altitudes
You never get to see your actual friends.
Forget others you never get to see your Mother and father.
[1] Goli go hona: It’s a stable in Kinnauri songs and every song starts with this phrase.
[2] Tholang village: Modern name of Tholang is Chagaon
[3] Dombar/Shu/Deota: The deities in Kinnaur are much revered. Neither demons, nor gods, neither kings nor subjects they are beings of high spiritual powers and Much like the people who worship them they own land and cattle.
[4] Gacchi: The traditional is waistband dyed red and is worn by both men and women. Men wear it with Chuba- suton(Overcoat and trouser)and women with their Dodu (Wrap-around made with wool).
[5] Gunsa:Shepherds along with their cattle go to areas far away from home that are warmer and have availability of fodder during the winter.
[6] Pabang: A village is usually inhabited in three layers. The actual level at the middle tier. The lower lever which is called Dogri and the high altituted is called kandey. A pabang is a place higher than kandey which is sacred to villagers and visited during festivals and frequented by shepherds(of that particular village only) to gaze their cattle.
[7] It rains during the month of June and July and it gets foggy at the higher altitudes.
Transcribed Song
U Kudos gd going keep maintain nd keep it up ❣️