1884.] 
G. A. Grierson —The Song of Bijai Mai. 
131 
TRANSLATIOIT. 
Invocation. 
I invoke the god of this place and earth,* and the village god : 
then I invoke the feet of my mother, and of my spiritual preceptor. 
Next I invoke the Brahm of the village, (5) and the snn god Snrnj 
Mai, whose lamp is burning every day. I invoke Mother Ganges, whose 
water flows in a clear stream. I invoke the five Pandavas, (10) and the 
heroic Hanuman.f Again I invoke the goddess Durga : 0 goddess, be 
thou a help to my throat as I sing this song. 0 goddess, if any letters 
are forgotten, bring them together number by number. (15) Then will 
I invoke the god GoraiyaJ of Delhi and the Musalman saint Subhan Gir.§ 
With what shall I honour, the god of this place and earth, the 
village god, the feet of my mother, (20) and of my spiritual preceptor, 
the Brahm of the village, Suruj Mai, Mother Ganges, the five Panda¬ 
vas, (25) Hanuman, Durga, Goraiya of Delhi, and Subhan Gir. 
With oblations will I honour the god of this place and earth, 
(30) and with grain the village god. With my ten nails (^. e., with 
reverently joined hands) will I honour my mother’s feet, and with 
yellow cloth my spiritual preceptor’s. With incense will I honour the 
Brahm of the village, and with a stream of milk Suruj Mai, (35) 
with cakes 11 will I honour Mother Ganges, with a golden brahmanical 
thread the five Pandavas, and with sweetmeats of clarified butter the 
heroic Hanuman. With a castrated goat will I honour the goddess 
Durga, with a sheet Goraiya of Delhi, (40) with a fowl Subhan Gir. 
Then will I call upon the name of Ram. Now will I sing the ballad 
of the prince, O gentlemen, hear attentively. 
The Ballad. 
Up rose*I[ Queen Maina, (45) saying ‘ hear me, 0 Chalhki my maid 
* I is a common compound, meaning- ‘ place.’ 
vj 
O 
in tlie text is long form of whicli is a provincialism for 
X Goraiya of Delhi is the God worshipped by Dusadhs and other low-caste 
tribes, South of the Ganges. Hogs are sacrificed to him. 
§ I have been unable to identify this saint. 
II instr. of f^3^T which is long form of 
•[[ This is the literal translation of ^3" and is so carried out throughout 
the translation of the poem. The compound, however, means idiomatically ‘ to 
speak up.’ It does not mean that the person speaking actually got up to speak. 
