Ml'NDABI POETRY, MUSIC AND DANCES. 95 



it can never be for our minds what the original is for theirs. That charm is considerably 

 heightened by the alternating manner in which the repetitions are sung by the boys 

 and girls at their dances. When the boys have sung two lines, the girls take up the 

 second line and sing only that, so that the synonymous repetition sounds like an echo 

 of the idea expressed. 



_ \ Burn burure manido ! Limang lomonga manido ! 

 I Bera berare rai ! Kidar kodora rai ! 



Girls — Bera berare rai ! Kidar kodora rai ! 



These echo-like repetitions are certainly well calculated to deepen the impression 

 intended in certain graver songs , as well as to heighten the point in such as are meant as 

 friendly banter. 



Thus the last stanza of the song about the horrors of war, given above, cannot but 

 become more impressive by the echo : — 



fMaiomtana dada samrom kapiho ! 'Tis dripping with blood, brother, the 



golden battle-axe. 



Bovs H 



y i Kirumotana dada rupa mailsar ! They are wet with gore, brother, the 



silvery arrow-heads and shafts. 



Girls — Kirumotana dada rupa mailsar ! They are wet with gore, brother, the 



silvery arrow-heads and shafts. 



The following is a piece of banter against the very natural anxiety of maidens to 

 hide their ordinary shortcomings when their intended pays a visit to the family. A 

 few words of explanation are required to understand it fully. The ordinary fare of 

 the Munda is rice, with generally some stewed edible herbs or leaves. On special 

 occasions a stew or curry of pulse (ramra, i.e., the Hindi urid or dal) is served up with 

 the rice. Ordinarily they are not over particular about the rice being perfectly washed 

 before it goes into the cooking-pot, or about removing inferior and foreign grains or 

 even small pebbles from the pulse previous to roasting or stewing. Some are more 

 careless than others, and it is against these that the song is directed. Salha or sala 

 means ' ' to select. ' ' In connexion with pulse it means to remove every impurity carefully 

 so as to leave only the best grains. Gugura and dambar kom denote tiny little round 

 bells. Of these there are two kinds. The very smallest are attached to the neck of 

 hunting hawks, whereas a slightly larger kind are attached to leathern ankle rings, as 

 well as to belts, which young men tie above the ankle and round the waist in the war 

 dances called paiki. The sound of both kinds is weak enough, especially that of the 

 hawk-bell, which is intended to give only a clue to the hunter as he follows his bird 

 into some thicket or bush. These little bells are introduced on purpose to hint in a 

 bantering way at the quick sympathy with which lovers seem endowed with regard to 

 all that concerns them mutually. 



Since the piece is throughout a good illustration of the feature under considera- 

 tion, it may be given here in full : — 



