1884.] 
251 
J. 'N. Rae —Baiswdri Folk Songs. 
5[r jit^ §?f)- 
Note. This song is, in Bihar, attributed to Tnl’si Das, and not 
Sur Das. The Bihar version is 
vj 'J 
tt€^, •if ^fr itT 
tfr G. A. G. 
Translation. 
Who will listen to me bnt Then, 0 God. 
If Thon wilt, Thon canst easily take across {the sea of life) 
My leaky boat without tackle. 
Thou didst save the life of the elephant* who was seized by the 
crocodile.* 
Thou hastenedst (to do so), oh Lord, nor didst make any delay. 
Thou didst multiply the clothes of the chaste Draupadi,t 
* There is a mythological legend connected with the elephant and the crocodile. 
They were said to he brothers in a former life in the heavens. Both of them were 
heroes, and when they fell out with each other, they were enrsed to assume their pre¬ 
sent form. It is said that one day when the elephant went to bathe in the river, the 
crocodile, not forgetting the former fend, seized the elephant by the leg in the river. 
When the elephant found that all efforts to extricate himself from the grasp of the 
crocodile were vain, he implored the mercy of Narayan and he forthwith saved him. 
t Draupadi was the joint wife of the five Pandavs, the heroes of the famous 
epic, the Mahabharat. The Kurus, the cousins of the Pandavs, bore enmity with 
the latter on account of their both aspiring to the throne of Hastinapur, now called 
Delhi, which legally descended to the Pandavs. Sakuni, the maternal uncle of the 
Kurus, was a very successful player at dice, and confiding in his success Durjodhan, 
the head of the Kurus, invited Judhishthir, the head of the Pandavas to a play at 
dice, an offer which the latter could never refuse. S'akuni, on behalf of Durjodhan 
began to play with Judhishthir, and the latter lost all the games till he had lost his 
whole kingdom and even the freedom of his own person and his brothers. At last 
he was compelled to lay his wife Draupadi as a stake for the next game, and he lost 
her also. Duhsasan, the wicked brother of Durjodhan, dragged Draupadi into the 
assembly and put her to disgrace. At last Durjodhan ordered Duhsasan to strip 
her of her clothes. This was actually attempted, when she cried aloud imploring 
the help of her god, by whose grace she was supplied with fresh clothes as soon 
as the one on her person was snatched away, till a large heap of clothes was 
gathered in the assembly. The Kurus, finding their successive attempts to disgrace 
her baffled, left her alone. This event is said to have been one of the causes of 
the great war of the Mahabharat. 
