Folk Songs: Sohar and Kajri

Level 5Sounds Like sōhara a'ura kajarī

Folk songs keep older Awadhi forms alive: sohar for a birth and kajri for the rainy season.

How It Works

Sohar are songs for a birth. Women of the family sing them in the days after a baby arrives, and they are warm and joyful.

Kajri are rainy-season songs, sung in the months of heavy rain. Many are about waiting for a husband or sweetheart who is away, with clouds and swings in the pictures.

Song wordEveryday word
बलमवाबलम
बदरवाबादर
अमवाआम
ललनालरिका

The -वा ending is the long form used in songs. Older present forms such as बरसै also appear.

Everyday speech has its own -वा forms, such as लरिकवा. Song words such as बलमवा and बदरवा are different: in ordinary talk they sound like singing.

Examples (4)

  1. बलमवा परदेस गए।

    My beloved has gone far from home.

    बलमवा is the song form of बलम.

  2. बदरवा बरसै, बलमवा नाहीं आए।

    The clouds are raining, and my beloved has not come.

    बरसै is an older present form.

  3. अमवा कै डार पर झूला झूलब।

    We will swing on the mango branch.

    अमवा is the long form of आम.

  4. ललना आए, अँगना मा खुसी छाई।

    The little one has come, and joy fills the yard.

    A new line in the style of a sohar, about a birth.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

Folk Songs: Sohar and KajriLevel 5

Learn This First

Folk songs keep older forms, and many of them are long forms in -वा.

Words in This Pattern

सोहरकजरी