MUNDARI POETRY, MUSIC AND DANCES. 91 



than the English buttonhole. Dali or daili is nowadays used only in songs and 

 denotes, primarily, a bunch or bouquet of flowers. Hence again it is also used as 

 synonymous with the generic term : ba } flower or flowers. 

 In this song a youth sings to his sweetheart : — 



I 2 



I. Chikan baha bahalenam main ? 



3 4 



Baha baha soanam ! 



I 2 



Chikan dandid dandidleuam main ? 



.3 ... .4. 

 Daili daili sirinjam ! 



I 2 



II. Bahate chi umentanam ° 



3 4 , 



Baha baha soanam ! 



I 2 



Dandid' te chi rearantanam 



. . 3 . . . .4 . 

 Daili daili sinrin^am ! 



Corresponding variants are marked with the same number. 



The song may be closely translated as follows : — 



I. Into what flower hast thou blossomed, maiden ? 

 Thou art fragrant like the flowers. 

 Into what bunch of flowers hast thou grown, maiden ? 

 Thou art full of perfume like a bouquet. 



II. (Or) dost thou wash thyself in flowers, maiden ? 

 (That) thou art fragrant like the flowers. 

 (Or) dost thou bathe in blossoms, maiden ? 

 (That ) thou art full of perfume like a bouquet. 



This very peculiar use of words cannot be sufficiently insisted on, if we want to do 

 justice to their little songs and realize, to some extent, what those songs are to them. 



In addition to this almost inexhaustible stock of synonyms the Mundas have two 

 other means at their disposal : first, they have retained, for their songs, a certain 

 number of words which are now quite obsolete so far as conversational language is 

 concerned ; secondly, they readily use in songs such Hindi or Sadani words as they 

 have picked up, as synonyms to their own ; thus rai, mustard-plant, occurs as variant 

 to the Mundari mani ; dhar, path or road, as variant to hora, etc. 



(2) If the idea is only adumbrated in the first line so as to require either a simple 

 expansion or absolute generalization, then the second line repeats it in such a manner 

 as to obtain the desired effect. This is done in two ways, either {a) by using in the 

 second line a word denoting an object of the same kind or genus but of a different class 

 or species from that denoted by the corresponding term of the first line, or (b) by using 

 a contrasting term. 



