201 
R. C. Temple —Some Hindu Folksongs from the Punjab. [No. 3, 
38. 
Chacharuew ditta tak, 
Ki maungnrm khiib larya ; 
Sube dyaw laryaw mail mirk, 
Keb yar ghare bieh barya. 
Kang r a. 
The tick gave a bite, 
At the same time the bug bit well; 
(So) Suba’s wife made a sign, 
So that her friend entered the house. 
Notes. 
In the Kangra District, when the bridegroom goes to claim his bride, 
it is nearly a universal custom for his bride’s female relatives to sit him 
down to a dinner. They then sit round him and proceed to chaff him 
about his relatives. Among the rich nothing that is considered indecent 
is allowed; among the poor the songs are so broad as to be untranslateable. 
The above and the three next songs are those sung on such occasions in 
rich and well-to-do houses. 
Suba is here merely a generic name and represents any relative of 
the bridegroom who may happen to be married. Any other name can 
be inserted. 
The point of this song is that Suba’s wife makes the bites of the 
ticks and bugs which infest her person the excuse for letting her lover 
into the house. The song is valuable as expressing what the rich in 
Kangra consider inoffensive chaff, and as showing their excessively dirty 
personal habits. 
chacharue n : chachctru , hill dial., a tick, flea = Hind, and Panj. 
chichra, chichri. en, nasalized inflect. See song No. 5. 
ditta , Panj. = diya, gave. 
tak, hill dial., bite of flea or tick. 
ki, explained to mean in the hill dial. 4 ussi ivakt,' 1 at that very mo¬ 
ment.^ I am inclined, however, to consider it is connected with or 
represents the Panj. conjunction ke , or. 
maungnua, hill dial., a bug. 
laryaw, hill dial., a wife, cf. Hind, and Panj. lad, Idr, love, endear¬ 
ment: Hind, and Panj. ladld, ladli, darling, dear; Hind., lado, pet; 
Panj. Iddu, love; ladula, darling ; lado, favourite daughter ; Hind, and 
Panj. girl’s name, Ldd.o : Panj. lari, bride. 
mirk mama, to sign to, beckon, hill dial. 
bich, inside, Jnto. See song No. 18. 
* [ici in this sense, “when,” “just when,” is a wellknown idiomatic expression 
in Hindi. Ed.] 
