Garhwali, Himalayan Folk Literature

Characteristics of Folk Poetry: Similarities between English and Garhwali Folk Poetries
Bhishma Kukreti


Human emotions are universally same and that is why there are many similarities of form and emotions among folk songs created in different areas of the world.
The author is providing two similarities between the English Folk Poetries songs of Garhwal, Uttarakhand, Himalayas Folk Poetries .

Meaningless Interjection : in both cases, that is Folk poetries of Britain before mid -age and Garhwali, Himalayan folk poetries, the first stanza is meaningless for the poetry subject but very important for construction of song and for singing by chorus too. Or it may be said that the first meaningless stanza has the importance for choral adequacy as we see in the following folk poems of English and Garhwali languages

Hey , Hey, hey
I will haue the whetston and I may; (Ref-1 )
Po, po, po, po,
Loue brane & so do mo. (Ref-2)
And now Garhwali folk poetr--

Bakhari binvar--sakal dunya ghumi kwee ni mili teri anvar (ref-3)
Amoebaean Style : The critic analyzes in Transition English Song Collections (Ref-4),that questions and answers are another common form in English folk songs of old age . The readers may enjoy this beautifully illustration of a song of the early fourteenth century. The analyzer further says that the song is disposed in recitative, but, relieved of these repetitions:

Maiden in the moor lay
Seven nights full and a day.
“Well, what was her meet?”
“The primrose and the violet.”
“Well, what was her dryng?”
“The chill water of (the) well spring.”
“Well, what was her bower?”
“The rede rose and the lilly flour.”

Now the readers may find the similarities in Garhwali folk songs that Bajuband poetry (refr-5), where questions and answers are common and the meaningless interjection is used for chorus adequacy only :

Fooli jai jai ,
Banj katdari kai gaon ki chhai ?
Babla ki kuchi ,
Kai bi gaon ki holi tu kya kardi puchhi ?
Ganjela ki gaanj ,
Sarkari jangal keku katdee banj ?
Thakula ki thari
Raja kaunku bhare jaun band jangle karee
Dhamkalu ghan tu ini jande chhai t keku ayee baun?……

These two examples show that the primitive Garhwalis and Englishmen used to create songs in somehow in same form and there was similarities in the subjects that invitation is for dance is already there in hidden form or explicit form as well

Reference:
1-. MS, Balliol ff. 226 b, 248 b—Anglia, XXVI, 270.
2- Bodleian MS., Eng. Poet. E. I. f. 29 b—Percy Society, LXXIII, 42.
3-Ramola, Malchand, Bajuband Kavya, Malchand Bhawan, Tihri, India, 1989,pp138
4- Characteristics of Folk-poetry,, XVI. Transition English Song Collections.
The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18 Volumes (1907–21).
Volume II. The End of the Middle Ages.
5-Nautiyal, Dr. Sivanand , 1981, Garhwali Nrityageet, Hindi , Sahitya Sammelan, Allahabad, pp279-282

Copyright @ Bhishma Kukreti, Mumbai, India, 2009